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The Founder of Mormonism 



THE FOUNDER OF 
MORMONISM ' 

A Psychological Study of Joseph Smith, Jr. by 

L WOODBRIDGE RILEY 

ONE-TIME INSTRUCTOR IN ENGLISH 
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY 



WITH AN INTRODUCTORY 
PREFACE BY 

Prof. GEORGE TRUMBULL LADD 



I 



, J ' J 1 



NEW YO RK 

DODD, MEAD £sf COMPANY 
1 902 



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THF LiBRARV OF 
CONGRESS. 

Two Cc>P'^*=i RtCEIVEO 

JIJN. 6 1902 

E FLIGHT ENTRY 
a XXc No. 
COPY B. 



Copyright^ igo2 
By Dodd, Mead & Company' 

First edition published in May, 1902 



■ • • • V • • • 

• • •♦ • • , 

• • • *! • ' 



THE CAXTON PRESS 
NEW YORK. 



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Introductory Preface 



The rise and growth of Mormonism is one of the 
most remarkable phenomena of the nineteenth 
century. It is deserving of thorough investiga- 
tion, whether the investigation be conducted 
from the point of view of the sociologist, the 
psychologist, or of the student of politics or of 
religion. But from whatever point of view it is re- 
garded, a correct understanding of its origin and 
development can be gained only by the method 
which is applicable to all similar phases in the life of 
man ; and this method may be described, although 
somewhat unsatisfactorily, as that of historical and 
comparative psychology. In Mormonism, as in all 
religions and religious communities, we have to 
deal only with peculiar and complex combinations 
of the same ideas, feelings, motives and deeds, that 
are common to the entire human race. 

This essay of Mr. Riley is a conscientious and 
painstaking study of the founder of Mormonism, as 
one among not a few instances of the astonishing 
results that follow from the concurrent action of the 
individual man and the favoring opportunity afforded 



vi ' INTRODUCTORY PREFACE 

by the prevalent intellectual and social environment. 
Without Joseph Smith's personality being taken 
largely into the account, no account can be given of 
the rise and grow^th of the religious movement 
which he started. But Joseph Smith, under other 
conditions than those w^hich actually surrounded 
him in the first third of the last century, or Joseph 
Smith under the conditions actually existing any- 
where in the country in the last third of the same 
century, could not have become the founder of 
Mormonism. Man and environment were neces- 
sary for a new religion that should claim to be 
based upon a succession of revelations and miracles, 
recorded for the world to pass judgment upon, in 
the form of printed books. Hence the necessity 
for studying the man, not only in his own inherit- 
ance and personal characteristics and experiences, 
but also in his surroundings — the people of his 
neighborhood and time. 

The material for this study in psychology has 
been somewhat peculiarly difficult to acquire and to 
handle. At the time when the subject of the study 
lived, there was little or no disposition or fitness for 
considering such manifestations of abnormal psy- 
chical development from the scientific point of view. 
And so far as I am aware no very thorough attempt 
at such a study of the personal sources of Mor- 
monism has hitherto ever been made. This should 



INTRODUCTORY PREFACE vii 

be borne in mind by the reader who is fitted to form 
an expert opinion upon the success of the author in 
his effort to explain the facts from points of view 
now somewhat firmly held by the modern student 
of physiology and psychology. There is plainly 
room for a justifiable difference of opinion as to the 
relative amounts of shrewd insight, self-deception, 
disease of imagination and judgment, and conscious, 
intentional fraud, which must be admitted. Un- 
doubtedly, the mixture of all these factors varied 
greatly from time to time, — as in the career of all 
men who at all resemble Joseph Smith, the founder 
of Mormonism. I am sure, however, that no 
student of such phenomena can fail to appreciate 
the value of the services rendered by the author. 
The larger circle of readers, who make no claim to 
a special interest in abnormal psychology, even 
when it manifests itself within the sphere of man's 
religious life, will find much to interest and instruct 
them in this volume. I take pleasure, therefore, in 
thus briefly introducing Mr. Riley's essay to all 
classes of readers. 

George Trumbull Ladd. 

Yale University^ New Havens 
May^ igo2. 



Author's Preface 



This study has been offered to the Philosophical 
Faculty of Yale University as a thesis for the degree 
of Doctor of Philosophy. Materials 1 gathered at 
Salt Lake City in 1894 were utilized in 1898 for a 
Master of Arts thesis on the ' Metaphysics of Mor- 
monism.' The sources employed in the present 
work, as given in the appended Bibliography, are, 
in the main, to be found in the Berrian collection 
of the New York Public Library. 

Beside rare first editions and Church publications 
suppressed by the Utah Saints, use is here made of 
some hitherto unpublished manuscripts. For these 
I am indebted to various correspondents, and es- 
pecially to Mr. William Evarts Benjamin of New 
York City. For suggestions and criticisms my 
thanks are also due to Prof. William H. Brewer, of 
the Sheffield Scientific School, and to Prof. Charles 
j. Bartlett of the Yale Medical School. 

The aim of this work is to examine Joseph 
Smith's character and achievements from the stand- 



X PREFACE 

point of recent psychology. Sectarians and phrenol- 
ogists, spiritualists and mesmerists have variously 
interpreted his more or less abnormal performances, 
— it nov^ remains for the psychologist to have a try 
at them. 

New Haveuy Conn,, May, igo2. 



Contents 



CHAPTER I 
Ancestry and Dreams 
Partisan Treatment of Joseph Smith's Character. — 
Advantages of the Standpoint of Physiological 
Psychology. — The Man in His Maturity Described 
by Eye-witnesses. — ' A Phenomenon to be Ex- 
plained.' — Smith's Ability and His Absurdities. — 
His Writings Supplemented by Suppressed Sources. 
— The Origin of Mormonism. — Its Impelling 
Forces in the Eighteenth Century. — Joseph's 
Strange Ancestry. — His Grandfather Mack's Nar- 
rative, — The Latter's Life of Adventure and Hard- 
ship. — The Old Soldier's Ailments and His Re- 
ligious Experiences. — He Sees Visions and Hears 
Voices. — Similar Experiences of the Grandson. — 
Mack's Belief in Faith Healing and Mu-aculous 
Cures. — Erratic Tendencies Transmitted. — The 
Prophet's Mother. — Her Book, and its Works of 
Wonder. — Her Revivalistic Dream. — The Smith 
Pedigree Traced Back to 1666. — The Prophet's 
Father, His Restlessness of Mind and Body. — His 
Seven Dreams. — Their Local Color. — Their In- 
corporation Into the Book of Mormon, — Their 



xii CONTENTS 

Mystic Interpretation. — Their Physiological Basis. 
Elements of Illusion and Hallucination. — They Re- 
flect the Dreamer's Notions and Beliefs. — Relation 
to the Visions of Joseph, Junior - - - 

CHAPTER II 

Environment and Visions 

Western New York in 1815. — Backwardness of the 
Country. — Mental Effects : Lack of Education, 
Scarcity of Books Religious Literature Predomi- 
nant. — Some Rationalism, More Sectarianism. — 
Fanatic Sects. — Revivals, Their Unnatural Meth- 
ods and Abnormal Results. — The Young Be- 
wildered From the Clash of Creeds, Depressed 
From the Sombre Theology. — Joseph Smith's Ac- 
count of His First Three Visions. — The Psycho- 
logy of Such Religion. — Emotional Pressure and 
Resultant Hallucinations. — Religious Hypnosis and 
the Abnormalities of Conversion. — Parallel with 
John Bunyan. — Joseph Smith's Greater Abnormal- 
ities Due to Heredity. — His Neuropathic Ancestry. 
— His Grandfather's ' Fits.' — Neural Instability of 
the Second Generation. — ^Joseph's Juvenile Ail- 
ments. — Causes Provocative of His First Seizure. — 
Intoxication and the Second Seizure. — Psycho- 
physical Description of the First Two * Visions.' — 
Melancholic Depression and Infernal Phantasms. 
Smith Neither Demented nor a Dissembler. — His 
Condition Probably Epileptic. — Its Non-discovery 
Due to Ignorance of His Parents. His Fanciful 
Explanations. — The Symptoms Inadvertently Given 
in the Biographical Sketches and Elsewhere. — Cor- 



CONTENTS xiii 

relation of Ancestry and Progeny. — Seizures In- 
frequent and Cure Spontaneous. — After Effects on 
His Character. — His Mental Ability and Emo- 
tional Instability. — Interpretations of His Followers, 37 

CHAPTER III 

The Book of Mormon : The Documents 

An Alleged Indian Record in ' Reformed Egyptian.' 
— The Psychological Problem Twofold. — Belief in 
the Actuality of the * Gold Plates.' — Theory of Their 

Levitation. — The So-Called Transcription Its 

Transmission and Translation. — Judgments of Early 
Critics. — Pronounced Untranslatable. — Analogous 
to Automatic Writing. — A Home-made Pro- 
duction. — Concealed Autograph. — Joseph Smith a 
Crystal Gazer. — Reversal of Signature. — Uncon- 
scious Cerebration. — The Visions of Moses, — The 
Revised Translation of the Bible, — Confidence in 
His Own Learning. — His Interpretation of the 
Word Mormon, — His Early Ignorance. — His Use 
of Men, not Books. — Sidney Rigdon. — ^Joseph as a 
Linguist. — The Book of Abraham, — Original Manu- 
script of the Book of Mormon, — Changes in It and 
in the Prmted Editions. — The Cowdery Manu- 
script One of Several. — The First Duplicate Copy. 
— Disappearance of the First Original. — ^Joseph's 
Three Scribes. — Characteristics and Date of the 
Alleged Original. — The Cowdery Copy Prob- 
ably the Nearest to the Original. — Proof from the 
Famous Anti- Polygamy Passage. — The Author's 
Preface. — Agreement with Joseph's Confession of 
Illiteracy 'j'] 



xiv CONTENTS 

CHAPTER IV 
The Book of Mormon : The Sources 

Size and Aim of the Book. — Contents According to the 
Prophet. — Admission of Authorship. — The Environ- 
ment Suggests the Sources, — A Scriptural Para- 
phrase. Biblical Borrowings. — Biographical Hints. 
— The Dream of Nephi and of Joseph Smith, 
Senior. — Grammatical and Rhetorical Errors. — 
Geography made Indefinite and History Obscure. 
— Visions of America. — ^Joseph's Imaginative Gifts. 
— Lamanites are Modern Indians in Disguise. — The 
Aboriginal Monuments of New York State. — Theories 
of Indians being the Lost Tribes of Israel. — ^Joseph's 
Summary. — Parallels with Pri-est's American An- 
tiquities. — Local Sources of These Theories. — 
Popular Errors in the Narrative. — ^Joseph's Fanciful 
Explanations. — Mental Habits of the Lamanites. — 
Their Resemblance to Local Sects. — The Speech 
of Nephi Traced to its Sources. — ^Joseph's De- 
pendence on Local Theology - - - - iQ5 



CHAPTER V 

The Author's Mentality 

Joseph's Imagination Stronger Than His Reason. — 
His Theory of the Usefulness of Evil. — His 
Emotional Revolt Against Calvinism. — Allusions 
to Baptist Doctrines. — The Methodist Exhorter and 
the Speech of Amulek. — The Mormon Hierarchy. 
— The Clash of Creeds not Harmonized. — Three 



CONTENTS XV 

Minor Movements Reflected Tirades Against 

Romanism, Infidelity and Free Masonry. — The 
Book of Mormon as a Criterion of Mental Habits. 
— Joseph's Constructive Imagination ; its Materials 
and Limitations. — A Good Memory, but a Poor 
Judgment. — Mixture of Sense and Nonsense. — A 
Fanciful Family and an Emotional Environment. — 
The Marks of the Book are the Marks of the 
Man. — Mental Restlessness Characteristic of the 
West. — A Comparison w^ith Young Chatterton 
and the Rowley Myth. — The Literature of Dis- 
guise in America. — The Spaulding Theory Un- 
tenable. — The Book of Mormon Authentic and 
Indigenous. — The Gradual Evolution of the Work 139 



CHAPTER VI 

Prophet, Seer and Revelator 

This Title a Growth. — Variety in Prophecies. — 
Common Belief in the Predictive. — The Miller- 
ites. — ^Joseph's Indefinite Millennium. — Some 
Timely and Untimely Warnings. — The Personal 
Element. — Prophecy of the Civil War. — ^Joseph 
the Seer. — His Crystal Gazing. — The Prevalent 
use of ' Seeing Stones.' — ^Joseph as a * Peeper ' and 
as an ' Interpreter.' — Methods of Auto-Hypnosis. — 
How Joseph 'Translated.' — Abnormalities in the 
Book of Mormon. — Similarities to the Trance 
Medium. — Automatic Writing. — ^Joseph and His 
Scribes. — Clairvoyant and Telepathic Embellish- 
ments. — Self-deception and Conscious Duplicity. — 



xvi CONTENTS 

Methods of Concealment. — The Ecstatic Condition. 
— ^Joseph Applies to Others the Principles of Sug- 
gestion. — Persecuted and Made Notorious. — His 
Acts as a Revelator - - - - -175 



CHAPTER VII 

Joseph the Occultist 

The Testimony of Three Witnesses. — Was it an 
Hypnotic Hallucination? — Three Productive Fac- 
tors. — The Suggestibility of Cowdery. — His Ex- 
pectant Attention Aroused by Smith. — The Latter's 
Preparatory Successes. — The Baptismal Vision. — 
Whitmer's Persistent Belief. — Hypnotism Suggested 
as a Cause. — The Third Witness Less Susceptible. 
— How Harris was Approached by Smith. — The 
* Eye of Faith ' and Long Continued Prayer. — 
Joseph's Account of the Vision of the Gold Plates. 
— Pseudo-Explanations of Smith's Influence. — Al- 
leged Magnetic Influence. — The Religious Leader's 
Captivation. — Varieties of Hallucination. — The 
Vision of the Plates Induced by Positive Suggestion. 
— Loss of Extra- Mental Consciousness but not of 
Memory. — Association of Ideas. — Additional In- 
centives to the Psychic Mirage. — The Testimofiy 
of Eight Witnesses, — Various Theories. — Collective 
Hypnosis. — Epidemics of Hallucination. — Scanty 
Historic Connection with Other Movements. — 
Smith's Case Sporadic, His Achievements Empirical. 
— Western New York an Occult Locality. — Swe- 
dcnborgianism. — Mesmerism. — Animal Magnetism. 
— Spiritualism. — Primitive Beliefs of the Minor 



CONTENTS xvii 

Sects. — Mormon Metaphysics. — Smith a Crass Ma- 
terialist. — His Crude Explanations. — His Tests for 
Evil Spirits. — His Editorial on * Try the Spirits' - 209 



CHAPTER VIII 

Joseph the Exorcist 

Great Manifestations of Spirits.' — The Outward Signs 
of the Growth of Mormonism. — Elements of Suc- 
cess. — A Patriotic Bible. — Profuse Revelations. — 
The Book of Commandments. — Its Relation to the 
Book of Mormon, — A Book of Discipline, of Ex- 
egesis, and of Business. — Revamped Into the Doc- 
trine and Covenants. — Its Canonization. — The 
Latter-day Dispensation. — Its Puny Beginnings. — 
Sectarian Narrowness and Pride. — ^Joseph's Oppor- 
tunism. — The First Miracle. — Restoration of Primi- 
tive * Gifts.' — Newel Knight, the Demoniac. — 
Devils * Spiritually ' Viewed. — Faith in Joseph 
Smith. — The Coming of Sidney Rigdon. — His 
Influence Over Smith. — His Mental Unsoundness. — 
His Frenzied Preaching. — Revival Ecstasy in the 
Western Reserve. — The Kirtland Frenzy. — ' Gifts ' 
of Tongues, of Interpretation, of Prophecy. — The 
Philosophy of Religious Mania. — ^Joseph's Theory 
of False Spirits. — The Power of the Priesthood. — 
Other * Mighty Works.' — Catalepsy and Ob- 
session. — Smith's Final Standpoint of Repression. — 
The Mormon Missionaries and the Demoniacs. — 
Hypnotic Suggestion and Unbelief. — Collective 
Hysteria and * Evil Spirits.' — Witchcraft and Black 
Art. — Mormon Demonology - - - - 245 



xviii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER IX 
Joseph the Faith Healer 
Casting Out Devils Leads to Casting Out Diseases.— 
Joseph ^ Rebukes ' the Cholera. — His Followers De- 
mand Miracles of Healing. — His early Ignorance 
and Overconfidence. — His Later Crude But Real 
Knowledge of Mental Healing. — Mormon Medi- 
cine. — The Doctrine of Signatures, and Indian 
Herb Remedies. — ^Joseph's Uncle, Jason Mack, an 
Alleged Faith Healer. — The Irvingites and Mir- 
acles. — The Faith Promoting Series. — Holy Oil 
and Consecrated Flannels. — The Insistence on 
Faith, and Mental Suggestion. — Subjective Expecta- 
tions, — * Silent Treatment.' — The Mischief Done 
by the Missionaries. — Public Opposition. — Cred- 
ulity of the Laity. — Smith Recognizes Certain 
Limitations. — Seven Lectures on Faith, — The Ap- 
proximation to Suggestive Therapeutics. — Stress on 
the Mystical and Sacerdotal. — The Variety in 
Joseph's * Cures.' — His Failures with Children. — 
His Authority Over Adults. — Ephemeral Results. — 
One Authentic Success. — Due to Simple or Hyp- 
notic Suggestion ? — Joseph's Medieval Point of 
View. — The Use of the Talisman. — The Prophet's 
Impressive Manner. — Favorable Conditions Among 
the Mormons — Wholesale * Cures,' and Collective 
Hypnosis - 283 

CHAPTER X 
Final Activities 
Last Proofs of Smith's Restlessness and Instability. — 
Communism in Goods and in Wives. — ^Joseph the 



CONTENTS xix 

Socialist. — Communistic Societies in this Country. — 
The Shakers, and Owen's New Harmony. — How 
Smith Derived His Views. — Rigdon's Kirtland 
Common Stock Company. — Smith's Biblical Em- 
bellishments. — Tithing. — ^Joseph the Financier. — 
The Safety Society Bank and the Nauvoo House. — 
Plans and Specifications for the New City of Zion. — 
Smith's Various Commercial and Ecclesiastical 
Schemes. — ^Josepli the Soldier. — Mormondom a 
Military Church. — ^Joseph the Agitator. — His 
Strange Mastery of His Followers. — How He 
Gained the Ascendency. — Excommunication of the 
Three Witnesses. — Conflict Between Church and 
State.— Mental Effects of these Vicissitudes. — His 
Political Abnormalities. — A Candidate for the Presi- 
dency. — His Views on the Government. — His Last 
Utterances. — His Colossal Conceit. — The Final 
question : Was He Demented or Merely De- 
generate? ------- 305 



APPENDICES 

I. Contents OF THE Book OF Mormon - - 331 

II. Epilepsy and the Visions - - - - 3^3 

III. The Spaulding-Rigdon Theory of the Book 

OF Mormon ----- 367 

IV. Polygamy and Hypnotism - - . - 397 
V, Bibliography ..--..- 427 



CHAPTER I 
ANCESTRY AND DREAMS 



CHAPTER I 

ANCESTRY AND DREAMS 

To read the flux of books on the founder of Mor- 
monism, one might think there were no middle 
course between vilification and deification. To sec- 
tarians Joseph Smith appears an ignoramus, a fa- 
natic, an impostor, and a libertine; to his followers 
— a prophet, a seer, a vicegerent of God, and a 
martyr/ While two generations of writers have 
been presenting Smith's character in its mental and 
moral extremes, they have been ignoring the all-im- 
portant physical basis of his personality. If a solu- 
tion of his perplexing individuality is wanted, the 
pathological grounds must be examined. The state 
of his body goes far to explain the state of his 

1 Compare the early official Mormon organ, the * Times and 
Seasons,' 5, 856: — * Joseph Smith. With his friends: — God's 
vicegerent, a prophet of Jehovah, a minister of religion, a lieuten- 
ant general, a preacher of righteousness, a worshipper of the God 
of Israel, a mayor of a city, a judge upon the judicial bench. 
With his ene??iies : — A tavern keeper, a base libertine, a ruler of 
tens of thousands and slave to his own base unbridled passions, a 
profane swearer, a devotee of Bacchus, a miserable bar-room fid- 
dler, an invader of the civil, social and moral relations of men.' 

3 



4 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

mind, and his ancestry to explain both. Like the 
distorted views of his grandfather 'Crook-necked 
Smith ' Joseph's mental abnormalities are to be con- 
nected with physical ills. 

Before getting at the roots of his ramigerous fam- 
ily tree and grubbing in the neural subsoil, it is well 
to obtain an idea of what the man was like in his 
maturity. Within a year of Smith's death and in 
the heyday of his power, four different persons 
visited Nauvoo, met the head of the Mormon 
Church, and wrote down what they saw. As out- 
siders their impressions are worth having. The 
first ^ said that General Smith was not a fool, but 
somewhat of a jockey; that his socialistic schemes 
were crude, but that he had a clear insight into the 
grosser principles of human nature. The next eye- 
witness was an Englishwoman, the sister of a Mor- 
mon convert. With feminine intuition she saw 
into the paradoxical nature of the man, and pictures 



« * Universalist Union,' 9, 376. Interview of * W. S. B.' August 
20, 1843. * Joe Smith is not a fool, though he is somewhat of a 
jockey. He has a clear insight into the grosser principles of human 
nature and adapts himself and his theories to a taste and disposi- 
tion he finds common enough among men — credulity and self in- 
terest. Assuming much for himself, and promising everything to 
his followers, he is able to draw around him a class of men who 
prefer being led to being starved ... he sets up that he 
and his followers are superior to all other men. . . . Theirs 
is the crudest kind of socialism.' 



ANCESTRY AND DREAMS 5 

him as sensuaP and shrewd, boastful and popular, 
conceited and kind-hearted. If these descriptions 
are objected to as prejudiced, there remain two ac- 
counts which the Mormons quote with approval. 
The first was given by the legal counsel of the 
Saints in their Missouri troubles. He portrays 
Smith as of unprepossessing appearance, ordinary 
conversational powers, and limited education, and 
yet withal of indomitable perseverance, strange and 
striking views and great influence over others, ene- 

^ 'Joseph Smith is a large, stout man, youthful in his appearance, 
with light complexion and hair, and blue eyes set far back in the 
head, and expressing great shrewdness, or I should say, cunning. 
He has a large head and phrenologists would unhesitatingly pro- 
nounce it a bad one, for the organs situated in the back part are 
decidedly most prominent. He is also very round shouldered. He 
had just returned from Springfield, where he had been upon trial 
for some crime of which he was accused while in Missouri, but he 
was released by habeas corpus. I, who had expected to be over- 
whelmed by his eloquence, was never more disappointed than 
when he commenced his discourse by relating all the incidents of 
his journey. This he did in a loud voice, and his language and 
manner were the coarsest possible. His object seemed to be to 
amuse and excite laughter in his audience. He is evidently a 
great egotist and boaster, for he frequently remarked that at 
every place he stopped going to and from Springfield people 
crowded around him, and expressed surprise that he was so 
"handsome and good looking." He also exclaimed at the close of 
almost every sentence, " That's the idea ! " . . . They say he 
is very kind hearted, and always ready to give shelter and help 
to the needy.* — Charlotte Haven. * A Girl's Letters from Nauvoo,* 
January 22 and February 13, 1843, i^ ^^^ Overland Monthly ^ 
December, 1890. 



6 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

mies and followers alike.* Of all these pen portraits, 
the latest is probably the most impartial. As the 
church historian gives it only in part/ it is need- 

< p. H. Burnett, ' Recollections of an Old Pioneer,' 1890, p. 66 : — 
'Joseph Smith, Jr., was at least six feet high, well formed, and 
weighed about 180 pounds. His appearance was not prepossessing 
and his conversational powers were but ordinary. You could see at a 
glance that his education was very limited. He was an awkward 
but vehement speaker. In conversation he was slow, and used 
too many words to express his ideas, and would not generally go 
directly to a point. But, with all these drawbacks, he was much 
more than an ordinary man. He possessed the most indomitable 
perseverance, was a good judge of men, and deemed himself 
born to command and he did command. His views were so 
strange and striking, and his manner was so earnest, and appar- 
ently so candid, that you could not but be interested. ... He 
had the capacity for discussing a subject in different aspects, and 
for proposing many original views, even of ordinary matters. His 
illustrations were his own. He had great influence over others. 
. . . In the short space of five days he had managed so to 
mollify his enemies that he could go unprotected among them 
without the slightest danger.' 

6 Contrast G. Q. Cannon, *The Life of Joseph Smith the 
Prophet,' p. 355, with Quincy, * Figures of the Past,' pp. 376-399 : — 
' It is by no means improbable that some future text-book, for the use 
of generations yet unborn, will contain a question something like 
this : What historical American of the nineteenth century has exerted 
the most powerful influence upon the destinies of his countrymen ? 
And it is by no means impossible that the answer to that interrogatory 
may be thus written : Joseph Smith the Mormon Prophet. And the 
reply, absurd as it doubtless seems to most men now living, may be 
an obvious commonplace to their descendants. History deals in sur- 
prises and paradoxes quite as startling as this. The man who es- 
tablished a religion in this age of free debate, wlio was and is to-day 
accepted by hundreds of thousands as a direct emissary from the 
Most High, — such a rare human being is not to be disposed of by 



ANCESTRY AND DREAMS 7 

ful to sum up the whole. In May, 1844, forty- 
three days before his assassination, Smith was vis- 
ited at his headquarters by Josiah Quincy, who left 

pelting his memory with unsavory epithets. Fanatic, impostor, 
charlatan, he may have been ; but these hard names furnish no so- 
lution to the problem he presents us. . . . The most vital 
questions Americans are asking each other to-day have to do with 
this man and what he has left us.' 



* General Smith proceeded to unfold still further his views upon 
politics. He denounced the Missouri Compromise as an unjusti- 
fiable concession for the benefit of slavery. It was Henry Clay's 
bid for the presidency. Dr. Goforth might have spared himself 
the trouble of coming to Nauvoo to electioneer for a duellist who 
would fire at John Randolph but was not brave enough to protect 
the Saints in their rights as American citizens. Clay had told his 
people to go to the wilds of Oregon and set up a government of 
their own. Oh yes, the Saints might go into the wilderness and 
obtain justice of the Indians, which imbecile, time-serving poli- 
ticians would not give them in the land of freedom and equality. 
The prophet then talked of the details of government. He 
thought that the number of members admitted to the Lower 
House of the National Legislature should be reduced. A crowd 
only darkened counsel and impeded business. A member to every 
half million of population would be ample. The powers of the 
President should be increased. He should have authority to put 
down rebellion in a state without waiting for the request of any 
governor ; for it might happen that the governor himself would be 
the leader of the rebels. It is needless to remark how later events 
showed the executive weakness that Smith pointed out ^ — a weakness 
which cost thousands of valuable lives and millions of treasure; 
but the man mingled Utopian fallacies with his shrewd suggestions. 
He talked as from a strong mind utterly unenlightened by the 
teachings of history.' 



8 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

him *a phenomenon to be explained/ The general 
was described as 'a man of commanding appear- 
ance; capacity and resource were natural to his stal- 
wart person; and left an impression of rugged 
power.' But there were not only high lights in the 
picture. Smith gave the impression of kingly 
power, but his talk was garnished with forcible 
vulgarisms; he had a statesmanlike prevision in ad- 
vocating the buying of slaves, eleven years before 
Emerson advocated that scheme, but with it all be- 
trayed unexampled absurdities in showing off his 
museum, containing Egyptian mummies and the 
autograph of Moses. *The man,' says Quincy in 
conclusion, 'mingled Utopian fallacies with his 
shrewd suggestions. He talked as from a strong 
mind utterly unenlightened by the teachings of his- 
tory.' 

Personal interviews furnish as good a way as any 
to get at a solution of * the enigma of Palmyra.' 
Since these are few and fragmentary, recourse 
must be had to information furnished by the 
prophet under his own name. But, again, since 
Smith's writings have all the defects of personal in- 
terviews of an author with himself, there is need 
of considerable reading between the lines. This is 
fortunately supplied by various early works, which 
were so strongly apologetic that they were ulti- 
mately suppressed. For example, SmitWs Journal 



ANCESTRY AND DREAMS 9 

and his History,^ are supplemented by Thompson's 

6 Compare H. H. Bancroft, « History of Utah,' p. 109:— 'The 
most complete history of the early Mormon church is the Journal 
of Joseph Smithy extracts from which were made by himself, so as 
to form a consecutive narrative, under title of History of Joseph 
Smithy and published in " Times and Seasons " beginning with Vol. 
III. No. 10, March 15, 1842, and ending February 15, 1846, after 
the prophet's death. The narrative would fill a good-sized i2mo 
volume. It is composed largely of revelations, which, save in the 
one point of commandment which it was the purpose specially to 
give, are all quite similar. Publication of the " Times and Seasons " 
was begun at Commerce, afte;rwards called Nauvoo, Illinois, 
November, 1839, and issued monthly. The number for May, 1840, 
was dated Nauvoo. Later it was published semi-monthly, and 
was so continued till February, 1846. It is filled with church pro- 
ceedings, movements of officers, correspondence of missionaries, 
history, and general information, with some poetry. . . .' 

•At the organization of this church, the Lord commanded 
Joseph the prophet to keep a record of his doings in the great and 
important work that he was commencing to perform. It thus became 
a duty imperative. After John Whitmer and others had purloined 
the records in 1838, the persecution and expulsion from Missouri 
soon followed. When again located, now in Nauvoo, Illinois, and 
steamboat loads of emigrants were arriving from England via 
New Orleans, the sound thereof awakened an interest in the coun- 
try that led Hon. John Wentworth, of Chicago, to write to the 
prophet, Joseph Smith, making inquiries about the rise, progress, 
persecution, and faith of the Latter-day Saints, the origin of this 
work, the ** Book of Mormon," the plates from which the record was 
translated, etc. ; and it is the answer to this letter contained in 
" Times and Seasons," March i, 1842, that precedes or prefaces the 
present history of Joseph Smith, which is the history of the Church 
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This request of Mr. Went- 
worth's seemed to forcibly remind the prophet of the importance 
of having the history of his wonderful work restored to such a 
condition that correct information could be given to editors, 
authors, publishers, and any or all classes of inquirers that might 



lo THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Evidences'^ and Lucy Smith's Biographical Sketches^ 
the latter being a sort of homeopathic antidote to 
her son's unctuous autobiography/ So much for 
the sources, now for the movement and the man. 

apply, and he undertook with his clerks, recorder, and all avail- 
able aid from private journals, correspondence, and his own in- 
delible memory, and made it a labor to get his own history, which 
was indeed that of the church in all the stages of its growth, 
while he remained with his people, compiled and written up to 
date, which with his own current journal enabled the historian to 
complete the history to the time of his assassination, with the 
utmost fidelity to facts as they occurred. Our method of verifica- 
tion, after compilation and rough draft, was to read the same be- 
fore a session of the council, composed of the First Presidency and 
Twelve Apostles, and there scan everything under consideration.' 
Richards' ' Bibliography of Utah,' MS., 2-6. 

7 Charles Thompson, * Evidences in Proof of the Book of Mor- 
mon,' p. 1 86. * Let us here enumerate all the accusations against 
him : " a money digger, a fortune teller, intemperate, a profane 
swearer, quarrelsome, a liar and a deceiver." ' 

8 TTie History of Joseph Smithy as given in the * Times and Sea- 
sons,' 3, 326-945, is conveniently reprinted in the * Pearl of Great 
Price.' The opening paragraphs, as here quoted, are followed by 
the accounts of the three Visions [See Chapter II Environment 
and Visions]. 

* Owing to the many reports which have been put in circulation 
by evil designing persons in relation to the rise and progress of 
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, all of which have 
been designed by the authors thereof to militate against its char- 
acter as a Church, and its progress in the world, I have been in- 
duced to write this history, so as to disabuse the public mind, and 
put all inquirers after truth in possession of the facts as they have 
transpired in relation both to myself and the Church so far as I 
have such facts in possession. 

In this history I will present the various events in relation to 
this Church, in truth and righteousness, as they have transpired, or 



ANCESTRY AND DREAMS ii 

Mormonism began before its founder. However 
strange was the appearance of this new prophet, 
whose 'creed was singular and wives plural,' there 
were preparatory influences back of him. The 
cult was no more peculiar than its causes. It was 
in western New York that the son of an obscure 
farmer gazed in his magic crystal, automatically 
wrote *a transcription of gold plates,' dictated the 
Book of Mormon, and after strange signs and 
wonders, started his communistic sect. The move- 
ment arose between 1820 and 1830; its impell- 
ing forces began two generations before. Joseph 
Smith dreamed dreams, saw visions, and practiced 
healing by faith; so did his father, his mother and 
his maternal grandfather. It is with the latter that 
the investigation properly begins, for there are ex- 
tant hitherto unused materials antedating the 
Revolutionary War. About 18 10, Solomon Mack, a 

as they at present exist, being now the eighth year since the or- 
ganization of the said Church. 

I was born in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and five, on the twenty-third day of December, in the town of 
Sharon, Windsor County, State of Vermont. My father, Joseph 
Smith, senior, left the State of Vermont, and moved to Palmyra, 
Ontario (now Wayne) County, in the State of New York, when 
I was in my tenth year. In about four years after my father's 
arrival at Palmyra, he moved with his family into Manchester, in 
the same county of Ontario. His family consisted of eleven souls, 
namely: my father, Joseph Smith, my mother, Lucy Smith 
(whose name previous to her marriage was Mack). , . .* 



12 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

broken down old soldier, put forth a pamphlet with 
this suggestive title : — 

A Narrative of the Life of Solomon Mack, con- 
taining an account of the many severe accidents he 
met with during a long series of years, together with 
the extraordinary manner in which he was con- 
verted to the Christian Faith, To which is added 
a number of Hymns, composed on the death of 
several of his relations, Windsor : Printed at the 
expense of the author,^ 

In this rare Yankee chap-book there earliest ap- 
pears the proneness of the Smith tribe to illusions of 
the mind. These are described, towards the close 
of the book, with an air of simple belief. But be- 
fore that there are two-score ill-spelt pages, which 
throw a flood of light on the life of one of the de- 
pendent classes a hundred years ago. Yet along 
with its quaint fancies and pleasing humors, Mack's 
little work discloses three poor traits of the writer's 
descendants, — their illiteracy, their restlessness and 
their credulity. Lucy Mack, daughter of the fighting 
beggar-man and mother of the prophet, in her own 
book smoothed the style and corrected the gram- 
matical errors of the Narrative, Lest the raciness 
and air of truth be left out, it is well to return to 
the original. The author opens with a quaint ap- 

9 Of the two reputed copies, the one in the Berrian Collection, 
is here used. 



ANCESTRY AND DREAMS 13 

peal to the piety of his hearers and recounts the 
hardships of an apprentice bound out to farm 
work: — 

'My father went to the door to fetch in a 
back-log, and returned after a fore-stick and 
instantly droped down dead on the floor. You 
may see by this our lives are dependant on a 
sumpreme and independant God. . . . My 
Master was very careful that I should have little 
or no rest. From labour ^he never taught me to 
read or spoke to me at all on the subject of re- 
ligion. . . . My mistress was afraid of my 
commencing a suit against them, she took me 
aside and told me I was such a fool we could 
not learn you. I was never taught even the 
principles of common morality, and felt no ob- 
ligation with regard to society ; and was bom 
as others, like the wild ass's colt. I met with 
many sore accidents during the years of my 
minority.' ^° 

The writer next gives an instance of his practical 
cleverness, but adds thereto a confession of his lack 
of book learning. Recounting his adventures in 
the French and Indian war, near Fort Edward in 
1757, he says: 

' I espied at about thirty rods distance, four 

Indians coming out of the wood with their 

tomma-hawks, scalping knives and guns. I 

was alone, but about twenty rods behind me 

10 « Narrative,' pp. 3, 4, 



14 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

there was a man by the name of Webster. I 
saw no other way to save myself only to de- 
ceive them by stratagem — I exclaimed like this 
— Rush on ! rush on / Brave Boys, we'll 
have the Devils I We'll have the Devils — I 
had no other weapon only a staff; but I ran 
towards them and the other man appearing in 
sight, gave them a terrible fright, and I saw 
them no more but I am bound to say the grass 
did not grow under my feet.' 

3K ^ H^ H^ He ^K 

'In the spring, 1754, I set out on another 
campaign. I went to Crown Point, and there 
I set up a sutler's shop which I kept two years, 
by means of a clerk I employed for that pur- 
pose, not knowing myself how to write, or read, 
to any amount, what others had written or 
printed.' " 

After giving the author's further experiences as a 
backwoodsman in Connecticut, an artilleryman in 
the American army, a sailor from Liverpool to 
Mount Desert and a privateersman in Long Island 
Sound, the Narrative is taken up with an Iliad of 
woes, a list of sufferings and accidents doubtless 
lengthened out to create sympathy and make the 
little book sell. In Mack's catalogue of fever sores, 
smallpox, and broken bones there is little of really 
vital interest, until mention is made of falling fits. 

" * Narrative/ pp. 5,9. Table of Errata in Appendix makes the 
date 1754 to be 1759. 



ANCESTRY AND DREAMS 15 

These are causally connected with the seizures 
which afflicted his descendant sixty years later. 
The case reads like epilepsy ; at any rate, thus early 
appear those symptoms, which go far to explain 
the ' visions and revelations ' and other abnormalities 
of grandfather and grandson alike. But to resume 
the story at a later point: With his bodily suffer- 
ings in old age, Solomon's religious experiences be- 
gin and there are blended with these certain char- 
acteristic mental hallucinations; the narrator con- 
tinues : — 

' In the 76th year of my age, I was taken with 
the Rheumatism and confined me all winter in 
the most extreme pain for most of the time. I 
under affliction and dispensation of providence, 
at length began to consider my ways, and found 
myself destitute of knowledge to extole me to 
enquire. My mind was imagining, but agi- 
tated. I imagined many things ; it seemed to 
me that I saw a bright light in a dark night, 
when contemplating on my bed which I could 
not account for, but I thought I heard a voice 
calling to me again. I thought I saw another 
light of the same kind, all which I considered 
as ominous of my own dissolution. I was in 
distress that sleep departed from my eyes and I 
literally watered my pillow with tears that I 
prayed eagerly that God would have mercy on 
me.* '' 

" • Narrative,' p. 19. 



i6 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Psychologically these phenomena will demand 
closer scrutiny, historically they are by no means 
unique. From the bishop of Hippo to Jonathan 
Edwards, such visions and voices have had mystic 
interpretation.^' The fantasies of the simple minded 
Revolutionary soldier may be connected with the 
past, their real significance lies with a coming gen- 
eration. To the grandfather these impressions are 
vague, inchoate and hard to explain; to the grand- 
son they are clear manifestations with a definite 
purpose,— they are messages of the angel Nephi an- 
nouncing the Mormon dispensation. 

The last pages of the Narrative are of interest as 
disclosing an almost medieval way of looking at 
peculiar mental experiences. This New Englander 
of the eighteenth century felt and thought like the 
English Puritan of the sixteenth. Mack's confession, 
for example, intimately resembles Bunyan's Grace 
Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. There bodily 
ailments are followed by mental apparitions, but the 
two are scarce conjoined; it did not occur to the 
inspired tinker, that his physical hardships on 
Hounslow Heath were a cause of his imaginary 
fights with Apollyon in Bedford Gaol. So is it 
here, — the physical cause is stated, but the religious 
interpretation is predominant: — 

w Compare * Revue Philosophique,' 44, 636, — H. Joly, * Psycho- 
logie des Saints.' 



ANCESTRY AND DREAMS 17 

' Another night soon after I saw another light 
as bright as the first, at a small distance from 
my face, and I thought I had but a few 
moments to live, and not sleeping nights, and 
reading, all day I was in misery ; well you may 
think I was in distress, soul and body. At an- 
other time, in the dead of the night I was called 
by my christian name, I arise up to answer to 
my name. The doors all being shut and the 
house still, I thought the Lord called and I had 
but a moment to live. ... I have often 
thought that the lights which I saw were to 
show me what a situation I was in. . . . 
The calls, I believe, were for me to return to the 
Lord who would have mercy on me.* " 

It is this referring of everything unnatural to the 
supernatural that continued as a mark of Joseph's 
family during three generations; dreams are warn- 
ings, visions are messages from on high. Even 
more characteristic is the belief in healing by prayer. 
The prophet constantly practiced this on his fol- 
lowers; his mother gave several instances; while 
his grandfather cited his own case at the end of his 
life:— 

* All the winter I was laid up with the rheu- 
matism. ... I thought like this as I was 
setting one evening by the fire, I prayed to the 
Lord, if he was with me that I might know it by 
this token — that my pains might all be eased 

** * Narrative,' p. 22. 



1 8 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

for that night ; and blessed be the Lord, I was 
entirely free from pain that night. * ^^ 

There remains one more incident which clearly 
displays the heights to which a persistent credulity 
may go, for the tale is repeated by Joseph Smith's 
mother. The old man gives in his appendix the 
following curious story: — 

* Quite a mericle of my daughter in the town of Sun- 
derland in the State of Massachusetts, the wife of Joseph 
Tuttle. She was sick about one year. . . . For 
three days she eat only the yolk of one egg — she was an 
anatomy to appearance. Her friends were often weeping 
around her bed expecting every moment to be her last. 

The day before her recovery, the doctor said it was as 
much impossible to raise her, as it would one from the 
dead. The night following she dreamed a dream; it 
was that a sort of wine would cure her ; it was imme- 
diately brought to her, and she drank it. The next 
morning she awoke and called to her husband to get up 
and make a fire — he arose immediately, but thought she 
was out of her head ; but soon he found to the contrary ; 
quickly she arose up on end in the bed (said the Lord has 
helped body and soul) and dressed herself. • . . 
Soon after the same morning she went to the house 
of her father-in-law, (which was about ten rods) and back 
again on her feet her eyes and countenance appeared 
lively and bright as ever it was in her past life.' ^® 

>** Narrative/ p. 12. 

16 < Narrative,' pp. 42, 43. — A psychological explanation of this in- 
cident would puzzle a member of the Society for Psychical Research. 
It might be labelled a symptomatic dream, such as when the somn- 



^- 



r 

ANCESTRY AND DREAMS 19 



The study of the Mormon leader's ancestry is 
more than a study in atavism: nature has not 
skipped a generation. The erratic tendencies in 
Joseph's mind appear constitutional because they 
are continuous. His mother acknowledges as much 
in her Biographical Sketches^'^ of her son, which, at 

ambulist, or the deep sleeper, is alleged to diagnose the disease 
and to prescribe the remedy. This theory is based on the fanciful 
induction that, inasmuch as states of the internal organs are prevo- 
catives of dreams, the dream-desires have value as curative in- 
stincts. But over against this theory is the fact, that, even in the 
waking condition, there is but a vague consciousness of the seat of 
organic sensations. The incident, nevertheless, has value. It 
throws light on the mental development of both Solomon and his 
daughter, for reliance on the health-prescriptions of dreamers was a 
superstition of the middle ages. — Compare Du Prel, < The Philos- 
ophy of Mysticism,* Volume I, Chapter 5 * Dream a Physician.* 
Contrast Sully, in Encyclopaedia Brittannica, 7, 459. 

17 The full title reads : ' Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith 
the Prophet^ a7id his Progenitors for many generations,^ The 
book's authenticity is undeniable. Published in Liverpool in 1853 
for Orson Pratt, it was put forth with a flourish of approbation and 
publicly commended in the official foreign organ of the Mormons. 
The Millennial Star, XV. 169, 682, gives these two notices: « The 
manuscripts containing this information, with the exception of the 
portion relating to his martyrdom, were written by the direction and 
under the inspection of the prophet. . . . Being written by Lucy 
Smith, the mother of the prophet, and mostly under his inspection, 
will be ample guarantee of the authenticity of the narrative.* 

Orson Pratt's preface to the book begins : — * The following pages 
. . . were mostly written previous to the death of the prophet, 
and under his personal inspection. Most of the historical items 
and occurrences related have never before been published. They 
will therefore be exceedingly interesting to all Saints, and sincere 
inquirers after the truth.' 



J 



20 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

first, had a wide circulation as ' Mother Smith's 
History,' but has since been discredited by the 
Utah Mormons, for it tells too plain a story.^^ From 
this now scarce work, Joseph's mental outfit is seen 
to be largely a matter of inheritance. In his ma- 
ternal grandfather there is disclosed an unthinking 
credulity, in his mother a positive hankering after 
the supernatural. She notes with relish every detail 
of her husband's seven dreams, as well as all the 
omens, visions and faith cures of her seven brothers 
and sisters. This book is all important as a source, 
yet a question of historic validity arises. If it was 
written 'under the inspection of the prophet,' may 
not its facts have been garbled ? It was the practice 
of Joseph, as head of his church, to work over and 
amend his earlier writings; such are the gram- 
matical corrections in the Booh of Mormon and the 
doctrinal changes in the Book of Commandments. 
The doubt as to validity is legitimate, but the solu- 
tion is at hand. In these Biographical Sketches there 
are published ' historical items and occurrences ' — of 
such a kind that Joseph the wonder-seeker did not 
want them changed. The book teems with dreams, 
visions and miraculous cures. These were, in 
truth, 'events of infinite importance' to one who 
was not wont to distinguish between subjective 
illusions and objective realities. 

>8 A. T. Schroeder, < The Origin of the Book of Mormon,' p. 55. 



ANCESTRY AND DREAMS 21 

If, then, the book has not been seriously tampered 
with, because its subject-matter exactly suited the 
mind of the prophet, some plain facts about this 
' remarkable family ' may be extracted from it. To 
begin with, the education of Lucy Mack was of the 
most meagre sort.^* 

Closely related to the partial illiteracy of the 
mother is her entire credulity. She too believes in 
miraculous recovery, and in dreams as heavenly ad- 
monitions. Her version of her sister's unexpected 
upraising is more sensational than the parallel ac- 
count of Solomon. Mrs. Tuttle being bedridden for 
two years, suddenly exclaims : ' The Lord has healed 
me, both soul and body — raise me up and give me 
my clothes. I wish to get up. Connected with this 
recovery is the inevitable vision. The patient gives 
the recital of the strange circumstance in the crowded 
church, and addresses the audience as follows : * I 
seemed to be borne away to the world of spirits, 
where I saw the Saviour, as through a veil, which 
appeared to me about as thick as a spider's web, 

*9 * The Narrative * of her father discloses this. • In 1761,' Solomon 
Mack is made to say, * we moved to the town of Marlow. When 
we moved there, it was no other than a desolate and dreary wilder- 
ness. Only four families resided within forty miles. Here I was 
thrown into a situation to appreciate more fully the talents and vir- 
tues of my excellent wife ; for, as our children were deprived of 
schools, she assumed the charge of their education, and performed 
the duties of an instructress.* 



22 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

and he told me that I must return again to warn the 
people to prepare for death . . . that if I would 
do this my Hfe would be prolonged.' '" 

It was on these fables of the family and tales of 
a grandfather that the incipient prophet was fed.^^ 
But this is only a beginning of the signs and won- 
ders among Joseph's people. His mother also hears 
a supernal voice and has a miraculous recovery. 
Sick of a hectic fever and meditating upon death, 
she heard a voice saying: 'Let your heart be com- 
forted.' From that time, she asserts, she became 
quite well as to bodily health, but her mind was 
considerably disquieted. It was naturally in this 
period, when there was only a ' faint glimmer of 
light beyond the gloom,' that the author's most 
notable psychic experience took place. A condensed 
extract will give the spirit of the dream : — 

^ While we were living at Tunbridge, my mind 
became deeply impressed with the subject of re- 
ligion. I began to attend Methodist meetings 
and, to oblige me, my husband accompanied 
me ; but when this came to the ears of his father 
and eldest brother they were displeased. I 
was considerably hurt by this; after praying 
some time I fell asleep and had the following 
dream : 

*> « Biographical Sketches,' pp. 25, 26, 47. 

2» Compare ' Biographical Sketches/ p. 108. In 1827 Joseph 
takes a * hint from the stratagem of his Grandfather Mack.' 



ANCESTRY AND DREAMS 23 

I thought that I stood in a large and beauti- 
ful meadow ; a pure and clear stream of water 
ran through the midst of it. I discovered two 
trees standing upon its margin. I gazed upon 
them with wonder and admiration and I saw 
that one of them was surrounded with a bright 
belt that shone like burnished gold. Presently, 
a gentle breeze passed by, and the tree encircled 
with this golden zone, bent gracefully before 
the wind. I turned my eyes upon its fellow, 
which stood opposite; but it was not sur- 
rounded with the belt of light as the former, 
and it stood erect and fixed as a pillar of mar- 
ble. I wondered at what I saw, and said in my 
heart. What can be the meaning of all this? 
And the interpretation given me was, that these 
personated my husband and his oldest brother, 
Jesse Smith ; that the stubborn and unyielding 
tree was like Jesse ; that the other, more pliant 
and flexible, was like Joseph my husband ; that 
the breath of heaven, which passed over them, 
was the pure and undefiled Gospel, which Gos- 
pel Jesse would always resist, but which Joseph, 
when he was more advanced in life would hear 
and receive.* ^* 

Already there is disclosed a threefold resemblance 
between Lucy Mack and her father: each heard 
voices, saw visions and believed in miraculous cures. 
And there is another element which was transmitted 
to the daughter. Solomon has his religious doubts, 

*«* Biographical Sketches,' pp. 56, 57. 



24 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

but they are of a simple and personal kind; Lucy is 
afflicted with a more complex depression of spirits." 
This melancholia, allied with a positive intolerance 
of the sects, was destined to exert an important in- 
fluence on the young son's mind. In the case of 
the mother, at any rate, it led to a marked aloof- 
ness from denominationalism. A Methodist ex- 
horter and a Presbyterian minister both attempted 
to gain her adherence, but she maintained her 
religious independence throughout. 'At length I 
considered it my duty to be baptized, and, finding 
a minister who was willing to baptize me, and 
leave me free in regard to joining any religious 
denomination, I stepped forward and yielded obe- 
dience to this ordinance; after which I continued to 

59 Again while at Tunbridge, Vt., she writes : * The grief occas- 
ioned by the death of Lovina was preying upon my health . . . 
I was pensive and melancholy, and often in my reflections I thought 
that life was not worth possessing. In the midst of this anxiety of 
mind, I determined to obtain that which I had heard spoken of so 
much from the pulpit — a change of heart. To accomplish this, I 
spent much of my time in reading the Bible, and praying ; but, 
notwithstanding my great anxiety to experience a change of heart, 
another matter would always interpose in all my meditations — If I 
remain a member of no church, all religious people will say I am 
of the world ; and if I join some one of the different denomina- 
tions, all the rest will say I am in error. No church will admit 
that I am right, except the one with which I am associated. This 
makes them witnesses against each other ; and how can I decide 
in such a case as this, seeing they are all unlike the Church of 
Christ as it existed in former days ! ' — « Biographical Sketches,' 
p. 27. 



ANCESTRY AND DREAMS 25 

read the Bible as formerly, until my eldest son had 
attained his twenty-second year."* 

The book now takes up the pedigree of Joseph, 
senior, whose ancestors originally came from Eng- 
land. His line is traced back through seven genera- 
tions to first Samuel Smith, born 1666 in Essex 
County, Massachusetts. The education of the hus- 
band was not so defective as that of his wife, since 
at one time he eked out his living by teaching school. 
How much knowledge this would imply is conjec- 
tural. The course of study in a Vermont district 
school at the beginning of the last century did not 
consist of much more than reading, writing and 
arithmetic.^ At any rate with this equipment of 
the three Rs, Joseph's father as Patriarch of the 
Mormon Church in the Middle West, was author- 
ized to dispense written blessings to the Saints at 
a moderate tariff. If Joseph, senior, was, strictly, 
not illiterate, he still resembled his father-in-law 
in his restless habits. His occupations were varied, 
even for a Connecticut Yankee. He first owns a 
farm at Tunbridge, Vermont; he then moves to 
Royalton and then to Randolph and keeps a store. 
In the meanwhile he hunts for 'gensang' root for 

'* ' Biographical Sketches,* pp. 48, 49. 

•• Z. Thompson, * History of Vermont,' p. 212. « The founders of 
Vermont were able to read, write and compute, but few were 
yersed in the rules of grammar.' 



26 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

the China trade. He next rents a farm in Sharon, 
Windsor County, Vermont, but soon moves to 
Lebanon, New Hampshire; after that he migrates to 
Norwich, where his crops fail; and finally, when 
the boy Joseph was eleven years old, he takes up a 
land claim at Palmyra, Seneca County, New York. 
About this time he is described, by an eyewitness, 
as of gaunt and haggard visage, with the rusty 
clothes of a vagabond.^^ 

During these years of wandering Joseph, senior, 
was visited with a panorama of visions. They 
started about the year 1811, and were completed 
only with the mystic number of seven. The first two 
must be examined later, for the vision of the Magic 
Box gives the clue for the young prophet's discovery 
of the Golden Plates, and the vision of the Fruit Tree 
is substantially reproduced in the Book of Mormon, 

Two things are noticeable in the whole series: 
first, that they arose in times of mental agitation, 
and, second, that the stuff the dreams were made 
of was largely derived from every-day waking ex- 
perience. On the one hand the phantasms be- 
gan, when the dreamer's mind 'was much excited 
upon the subject of religion. '^^ On the other 

36 Editorial in Norwich, N. Y. Union, April 28, 1877, by W. D. 
Purple, who took notes at the trial of Joseph Smith, senior, on a 
charge of vagrancy before Justice of Peace Albert Neeley. 

«7 « Biographical Sketches,' p. 56. 



ANCESTRY AND DREAMS 27 

hand, the details are commonplace; the language 
is scriptural, but the color is local. For example, 
besides the vision of the Meeting House, there 
is that of the Magic Box, which is discovered in 
a wilderness of 'dead fallen timber'; and of the 
Fruit Tree which spread its branches ' like an um- 
brella,' and ' bore a kind of fruit in shape much like 
a chestnut burr.' The third vision is that of the 
Twelve Images which bow in deference to the father 
of the coming prophet, like the sheaves of Joseph's 
brethren of old. Here the dreamer enters a flower 
garden with ' walks about three and one-half feet 
wide, which were set on both sides with marble 
stones.' ^^ In the sixth vision there is more than a 
reproduction of the ordinary sights of a new New 
England village and more than a repetition of an 
Old Testament story. The conflict between the 
claims of Mercy and Justice is an echo of the theol- 
ogy of the day, an effort of the sleeper's mind to 
harmonize a nightmare with a doctrine of Calvin- 
ism. This dream is worth quoting at length: — 

' I thought I was walking alone ; I was much 
fatigued, nevertheless I continued travelling. It 
seemed to me that I was going to meeting, that 
it was the day of judgment, and that I was 
going to be judged. When I came in sight of 
the meeting house, I saw multitudes of people 

88* Biographical Sketches,* p. 71. 



28 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

coming from every direction, and pressing with 
great anxiety toward the door of this great 
building ; but I thought I should get there in 
time, hence there was no need of being in a 
hurry. But, on arriving at the door, I found it 
shut; I knocked for admission, and was in- 
formed by the porter that I had come too late. 
I felt exceedingly troubled, and prayed ear- 
nestly for admittance. Presently I found that my 
flesh was perishing. I continued to pray, still 
my flesh withered upon my bones. I was al- 
most in a state of total despair, when the porter 
asked me if I had done all that was necessary 
in order to receive admission. I replied, that I 
had done all that was in my power to do. 
*'Then,** observed the porter, ''justicemust be 
satisfied ; after this, mercy hath her claims.*' ' " 

Examining the next dream critically, it is clear 
that the higher mental activity of conception, not 
of mere reproduction, has a beginning but is not 
carried out. Evidently some involuntary muscular 
movement of the sleeper's body was made and the 
train of thought was interrupted. Says Joseph, 
senior: — 

' I dreamed that a man with a pedlar's budget 
on his back, came in, and thus addressed me : 
''Sir, will you trade with me to-day? I have 
now called upon you seven times, I have traded 
with you each time, and have always found you 

«9 « Biographical Sketches,' p. 72. 



ANCESTRY AND DREAMS 29 

strictly honest in all your dealings. Your 
measures are always heaped, and your weights 
overbalance ; and I have now come to tell you 
that this is the last time I shall ever call on 
you, and that there is but one thing that you lack, 
in order to secure your salvation." As I ear- 
nestly desired to know what it was that I still 
lacked, I requested him to write the same upon 
paper. He said he would do so. I then 
sprang to get some paper, but, in my excite- 
ment, I awoke.* ^ 

This seventh and last vision was 'received' in 
1 8 19, but the family habit was not interrupted. In 
the following year Joseph, junior, began his opera- 
tions, and in twenty-three years was vouchsafed 
those four hundred octavo pages of 'revelations,' 
found in the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl 
of Great Price. 

As has been suggested, the dreams of the elder 
Smith have evidently undergone a process of redac- 
tion; the smooth and unctuous style points to the 
corrective hand of Joseph. For all that, their gen- 
eral validity may be accepted; — as they are re- 
corded, so they happened. They could scarcely 
have been made out of whole cloth by the prophet 
in his later days of deception, for the Vision of the 
Fruit Tree was incorporated into the first edition of 
the Book of Mormon, To accuse Joseph of making 

»o « Biographical Sketches,* p. 74. 



30 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

up this vision and that of the Magic Box at the age of 
twenty-five, is to make him a juvenile forger rather 
than an unv^itting plagiarist. As the case stands, 
it is damaging enough to the Saints, instead of be- 
ing ' a divinely inspired record w^ritten by the fore- 
fathers v^hom we call Indians,' ^^ the Booh of Mormon 
is disclosed as a home-made product of infant in- 
dustry. Of the authenticity of the dreams," whether 
in or out of the Record^ there is abundant evidence, 
— those commonplace and homely details which 
crop out from amid the flowery language. But as 
regards inward significance they reflect the ideas 
and opinions of the persons concerned. They first 
tell how the Smith tribe interpreted their thoughts 
of the night.^ From the comparative ethnic point 
of view their theory was an intermediate one: '* they 
did not, like primitive man, look on nocturnal ex- 
periences as of equal reality with those of the day; 

31 Charles Thompson, « Evidences in proof of the Book of Mormon,' 
1 84 1, p. 192. Compare James E. Talmage, * Divinity of the Book 
of Mormon/ Salt Lake City, 1 901. 

*2 A negative proof of authenticity is found in Lucy's statement, 
p. 72, regarding her husband that ' He received two more visions, 
which would probably be somewhat interesting, but I cannot re- 
member them distinctly enough to rehearse them in full.* 

M For the principles here applied consult James Sully, * Illusions,' 
New York, 1897 '* ^^^ ^is article on Dream in the Encyclopaedia 
Brittannica, 9th edition ; also Carl Du Prel, « Philosophy of Mysti- 
cism,' Volume I, Chapter 2. 

^ Compare Herbert Spencer, * Principles of Sociology,' New 
York, 1892, Volume I, Chapter 10. 



ANCESTRY AND DREAMS 31 

much less did they give them a material and phys- 
ical explanation. Theirs was the mystic view: 
dreams are warnings from on high, visions are 
symbolic messages sent to guide the soul. Three 
stages in the conception of dreams are exemplified 
in the history of Joseph and his progenitors: first, 
personification, — to Joseph the deity sends a mes- 
senger or angel of radiant form ; second, communi- 
cation, — to Solomon Mack the divine message is 
heard by the dreamer, not by means of a material 
figure, but as an external voice; third, objectivation, 
— to Lucy and her spouse a symbolic picture is 
unrolled, with or without interpretation. 

Inasmuch as the Smiths insisted on the super- 
naturalness of their dreams, it remains to give their 
natural conditions and causes. A difficulty arises at 
the start: if the physiological explanation is at- 
tempted, the data are either entirely lacking, or are 
wanting in exactness. Mother Smith's work is meant 
to be a faith-promoting handbook; and shed wells 
with delight on supernatural remedies and miracu- 
lous cures. When she does go in for morbid anat- 
omy, the ailments and diseases are given obsolete 
and indeterminate names.'^ In one place, however, 

" Lucy's own comforting dream fits in with her hectic fever, but 
the typhus which afflicted her offspring was probably typhoid. Ref- 
erences to the epidemics of influenza, typhus, etc., in Vermont, during 
the first decade of the nineteenth century are of no avail, for Lucy 
herself generally neglects to give the date of the sicknesses which so 



32 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

nervous depression is given as a precondition of a 
dream. Immediately before her vision of the Two 
Trees, Lucy states that she had attended a Metho- 
dist meeting, when 'she returned to the house, 
much depressed in spirit, which state of feeling 
continued until I retired to my bed/^* 

Turning to the psychic correlations, a tentative 
use may now be made of the two ordinary forms 
of dreams, namely: — the illusion, or imitation of a 
sense perception, and the hallucination, or projec- 
tion of a mental image outwardly. The latter is 
exemplified in Solomon Mack, when he saw a 
bright object at a small distance from his face. To 
him this seemed an extra-mental reality; to the 
physiologist the apparent patch of flame is due to 
changes of blood pressure on the eye-ball. The 
brightness and apparent nearness of the light would 
appear to uphold the theory that, if the nerve ex* 
citation arises in the organ of sight, the structure of 
the retina is reproduced perceptibly." Although it 
is contended that the psychologist has nothing 
whatever to do with the physiology of the 

often preceded the visions. Moreover the local historian talks like 
a horse doctor. Compare Z. Thompson, * History of Vermont,* 
1842, p. 221*? * 1800, Typhus prevalent. 1802-3, Canker rash or 
throat distemper. 1807, Influenza in Vermont and throughout the 
United States.' 

3«« Biographical Sketches,' p. 54. 

37 Du Prel, p. 203 : Schemer's theory. 



ANCESTRY AND DREAMS 33 

retina,^ yet this experience of Mack's fulfils three out 
of the five general causes of hallucination given by 
the physiologist. There was no specific statement as 
to local diseases of the organ of sense, nor to drugs, 
but there was exhaustion of body and mind, a 
morbid emotional state of fear and outward calm 
and stillness.*^ As the old man's statement runs:— 
being confined with rheumatism, he was not sleep- 
ing well, was in misery and distress soul and body, 
and, at the dead of night, when the house was still, 
the * lights * came.*^ 

Returning to the illusion, or imitation of a sense- 
perception, the actions of the senses are variously 
illustrated in the dream series. The lower senses, 
as usual, here play little part. There is possibly a 
single case of an illusion of sense in the reference 
to delicate flowers; yet there are two instances of 
illusory taste, as when the dreamer starts to eat the 

38 E. W. Scripture, 'The New Psychology,' 1897, p. 384. 

w Sully, p. 115, quoting Griesinger. 

40 The theory that disease brings much dreaming is not upheld 
in the history of Joseph's parents. Lucy's health was « preyed 
upon by the death of her sister,' and she * suffered from a hectic 
fever, which threatened to prove fatal,' yet in these troublous times 
she had only one dream, while her sturdy vagabond 0/ a husband 
had seven. Regarding the visions of Joseph, as will be seen, — 
there were other and more specific causes of hyperideation. The 
only pertinent conclusion, from the story of his progenitors, is that 
Joseph inherited from his male progenitors, on both sides, the 
dreamy diathesis. See * Biographical Sketches/ pp. 37, 46. 



34 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

contents of the Magic Box, and when he scoops 
up ' by double handf uls * the white particles of the 
Fruit-Tree. The tactual element is also to be found, 
as when the dreamer is much fatigued in walking 
or seems to go lame. The auditory illusions are 
general, — the guide, or attendant spirit, audibly 
commands. Finally the visual element is universal, 
all the dreams were counted visions. The exciting 
causes of these phantasms are more or less con- 
jectural." When the new settler had the night- 
mare of * beasts, horned cattle and roaring animals 
bellowing most terrifically,' was the cause digestive 
discomfort, or did the sleeper dimly hear some 
commotion in the barnyard ? Whether the stimu- 
lation came from without or within is a physiolog- 
ical question : there yet remain varieties of brain ex- 

<» How the illusions of smell should arise, is here, as elsewhere, 
indeterminable. That of taste is explicable only by negation, — 
fasting causes dreams, the hungry wanderer longs for rich feasts. 
Illusions of touch or pressure are attributable to the condition of 
the muscles, — Joseph, senior, in his search for a home, had 
traveled from Vermont to the Genesee valley and had there 
cleared thirty acres of land. As to sight and touch, it is hard to 
determine whether the excitation was peripheral or central. It is 
here that the hard and fast distinction between illusion and hallu- 
cination is seen to be untenable ; for the latter like the former may 
arise inwardly. There appear to be dream-images due to direct 
central stimulation, — the brain, in and of itself, producing * stars,* 
• lights,* ' waving bands ' — the last being exemplified in Lucy's 
dream of the tree with the golden zone and with branches * danc- 
ing as lively as a sunbeam.* 



ANCESTRY AND DREAMS 35 

citation, which may be more pertinently expressed 
in terms of psychology. Direct excitations are pre- 
sentative and are connected with the immediate 
present; indirect excitations are representative, and 
are connected through the law of association with 
the past, — the brainly merely reviving impressions 
previously received. 

The point of interest in all this is that the dreams 
of Joseph's progenitors hold the mirror up to na- 
ture, reflect their innermost notions, beliefs and 
modes of thought. Thus Solomon Mack connects 
those midnight flames with 'the horrible pit of sin 
in which he lay'; Lucy interprets 'the breath of 
heaven' which passed over the two trees as the 
* pure and undefiled gospel '; and Joseph, the elder, 
attributed the 'withering of the flesh upon his 
bones ' to the demands of Justice over Mercy. 

The dreams of Joseph's ancestors are, at the best, 
but a dim avenue into their brains. In his own 
case there is more profit in reversing the process, — 
in studying the source of his phantasms before the 
fantastic in his character. Without a knowledge of 
his environment, his visions are inexplicable. 



/ 



CHAPTER II 
ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 



CHAPTER II 

ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 

When the Smith family moved to central New 
York in 1815, the country was by no means settled. 
Only the year before, the Holland Land Com- 
pany had bought up the tract west of Seneca 
Lake, originally held in speculation by Phelps and 
Gorham, and was now offering special inducements 
to settlers/ Joseph Smith, senior, joining in this 
emigration from New England, and taking up his 
claim in Ontario County,^ found that his farm had 
literally to be burned out of the woods. The land 
was called the western wilderness and there was a 
spice of danger in the life. Rochester consisted of 
not more than two or three log houses, and the 
Indians but two years before had desolated the 
whole Niagara frontier.' President Timothy 
Dwight in his Travels draws a vivid picture of the 

1 E. H. Roberts, « The Planting and Growth of the Empire 
State,' 2, 458. 

« J. H. Hotchkin, * A History of the Purchase and Settlement of 
Western New York,' 1848, p. 375 : — Palmyra was number 12 in 
the second and third ranges of Phelps and Gorham's purchase. 

9 Hotchkin, p. 94. 

39 



40 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

region. He has a keen eye for the lonely forests 
and the traces of the red man; he mentions the 
packs of wolves which drive the wayfarer to the 
trees ; in his journey over the military route he care- 
fully enumerates the expansions of mud, in their 
order, and asserts that in all this tract there was 
nothing, which may be called a town except Ge- 
neva and Canandaigua/ 

To this locality, remote and unfriended, Lucy 
Smith brought her family. She followed the state 
road, opened from the Mohawk to the inner lakes, 
by which even a post rider took two weeks be- 
tween Albany and the Genesee valley.* It was not 
for a decade that the canal was completed between 
the Hudson and Lake Erie,* and, by the time the 
Book of Mormon was in circulation, the journey 
from New York city to the centre of the state was 
a slow pilgrimage by stage coach, canal boat, and 
horse railroad.^ 

The physical environment had its mental effects. 
Owing to the wretched means of communication 
and the rudeness of the country, the education 
obtainable by the Smith children, whether at Pal- 
myra or Manchester, was necessarily meagre. If 

< President Timothy Dwight, 'Travels in New England and 
New York/ 1822, Letters II and III. 

ft Roberts, p. 453. c Roberts, p. 537. 

' A. B. Hart, * American History told by Contemporaries,' 3, 566. 



ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 41 

one of his own disciples complained of the proph- 
et's inability to read long words/ the cause for 
such illiteracy was obvious. He had attended 
school for less than a year in his native state.* 
There the educational provisions of the state con- 
stitution had as yet not been fulfilled, ^^ while of the 
founders of Vermont it was said that few were 
versed in the rules of grammar." A like state of 
affairs existed on the frontiers of New York; where 
the average school attendance was but three 
months" in the year and where, at the time of the 
writing of the Booh of Mormon, there were not two 
academies to a county.^' Moreover in their toils in 
the backwoods the boys were needed at home; one 
prominent Mormon is not loth to confess that at 
sixteen he had his last schooling for many years.^* 

8 Interview with David Whitmer in the Missouri TimeSy n. d. 

9 < Biographical Sketches,* p. 60. 

^0 Report of Commissioner of Education, 1868, p. 90. The Ver- 
mont Constitution of 1793, Article 41 reads : < A competent number 
of scholars ought to be maintained in each town for the convenient 
instruction of youth . . . and one or more grammar schools 
in each county.' 

" Z. Thompson, ' History of Vermont,' 1842, p. 212. 

*2 Report of Commissioner of Education, ' Early Common Schools 
in New York, etc.,* 1897, P- 224:— « Up to the revision of the state 
constitution in 1822, each school district had $20 from the state. 
A three months' term of common schooling was secured by state 
and local taxation.' 

^•Roberts, p. 554. 

»«P. P. Pratt, « Autobiography,' 1888, p. 18. 



42 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Another reports, with a humorous touch of truth, 
the local saying that 'none of them Smith boys 
ever went to school, when he could get out of it/^^ 
As the prophet himself said in later years : ' I am a 
rough stone. The sound of the hammer and chisel 
was never heard on me until the Lord took me in 
hand. 1 desire the learning of heaven alone.' ^^ 

Along with these shortcomings in education went 
an equal scarcity of books. Every house had its 
Bible, " but of general reading there was a woful 
lack. If at this time it cost a day's wages to carry 
a letter from Boston to Cincinnati,*^ books could 
not have been widely circulated by mail. Moreover 
the state library was not founded at Albany until 
1818 and local libraries were rarer than Indian reser- 
vations. It is reported by an adverse critic that 
Joseph had a special fondness for Captain Kidd's Life 
and for the Memoirs of Stephen Burroughs.^^ The 
latter is not improbable, for the book was published 
in Albany in 181 1 and its author hailed from Han- 
over, New Hampshire, one of the abiding places of 

** Elder Edward Stevenson, * Reminiscences of the Prophet, 
1893, P- ^So* 

16 G. Q. Cannon, 'Life of Joseph Smith the Prophet,* 1888, 
p. 496- 

'7 A. De Tocqueville, * Democracy in America,' 1833, i, 406 : — 
* The backwoodsman penetrates into the wilds of the New World 
with the Bible, an axe, and some newspapers.* 

18 Roberts, p. 676. 

19 J. H. Kennedy, 'Early Days of Mormonism,' 1888, p. 13. 



ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 43 

the Smiths. At any rate, this strange adventurer's 
description of himself betrays a certain prophetic 
affmity to his young reader. He was educated * in 
all the rigors of sectarianism, which illy suited his 
volatile and impatient temper of mind. ^° However 
large the list of books that the prophet read and 
recorded in his later days of self-education, there is no 
positive evidence as to his youthful literary pabulum. 
His mother said of him in his nineteenth year that 
he 'had never read the Bible through in his life; he 
seemed much less inclined to the perusal of books 
than any of the rest of our children.'" Neverthe- 
less the classes of books available to the backwoods 
boy may be fairly conjectured. One Mormon emi- 
grant from Otsego County to Ohio mentions taking 
with him McKenzie's Travels in the Northwest and 
Lewis and Clarke's Tours on the Mississippi and 
Colorado. " But the very books of adventure had a 
religious tinge. Burrough's autobiography discloses 
a sanctimonious sinner; Lewis and Clarke's volume 
contains speculations as to the American Indians 
being the lost ten tribes of Israel. ^' The wide cur- 
rency of this peculiar belief will be examined later 
in its bearings on Joseph's own writings. 

20< Memoirs of Stephen Burroughs,* Albany, i8ll, p. 5. 

21 * Biographical Sketches,' p. 84. 

22 Pratt, p. 27. 

''* The Travels of Lewis and Clarke,' London, 1809, p. 228. 



44 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Meanwhile, it is evident that the books which 
chiefly influenced him were of a religious cast. ^* 
There yet survived, after the Puritan fashion, ac- 
counts of memorable providences and ponderous 
controversial treatises. ^^ if the Smiths possessed 
any native Vermont books they would have borne 
such titles as these: Baylies' Free Agency, Burnap's 
Ether ial Director, Hopkin's Primitive Creed. '^^ 
Of such tomes their mere bulk, the force of their 
gravity, was an incubus on young minds. 

There was need for a change; but when a new 
stir of thought reached the masses it was anything 
but a message of sweetness and light. French ra- 
tionalism furnished the main intellectual stimulus," 
and * Tom ' Paine was the popular representative of 
brains. An enormous edition of the Age of Reason 
was printed in France and shipped to America, to 
be sold for a few pence the copy, or distributed 

«< De Tocqueville, 2, 65, notes the * Enormous quantity of reli- 
gious works. Bibles, sermons, edifying anecdotes, controversial 
divinity and reports of charitable societies.* Compare G. W. 
Fisher, * Early History of Rochester,* p. 1 1 : of the two earliest 
Rochester papers, one bore the title of the Gospel Luminary. 
Compare also Rochester Daily Advertiser, August 31, 1832. In a 
bookseller*s advertisement of that date, religious works take up 
the largest share of the list. 

*6 Henry Ferguson, * Essays in American Literature,* 1894, p. 65. 

2« Z. Thompson, * History of Vermont,* 1842, p. 173 : Books 
issued from the Press of Vermont. 

•7 Noah Porter, Appendix to Ueberweg*s, < History of Philosophy,* 
2,451- 



ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 45 

gratis.^® Thus, by the time that clubs of Free 
Thinkers sprang up in western New York,^ the Mor- 
mon prophet's mind was set, and he could see noth- 
ing in free thought, but rank infidelity. Later there 
may be found a few interesting hints of the Deistic 
controversy in the Book of Mormon, but the great- 
est force in the author's early mental environment 
was not rationalism but religiosity. He grew up in 
a perfect maze of sectarianism. In a denomina- 
tional encyclopedia, to which Joseph Smith, as head 
of his church, contributed a characteristic article, 
there were set down forty-three sects of standing 
in the United States. The multiplying of religious 
bodies was particularly noticeable in Joseph's forma- 
tive period. For example, in the sixteen years be- 
tween the moving to Palmyra and the coming forth 
of the Book of Mormon, four schisms occurred in 
the Methodist body alone.^ This reckless process 
of scission was one reason for the rise of Mormon- 
ism. Another was the length to which sectaries 
went in their beliefs and practices. Smith's native 
state had its share of fanatical bodies, and there was 

*9 Timothy Dwight, * Religion of New England, in Travels,' 4, 380. 

89 Hotchkin, p. 26. 

30 1. D.R upp, * He Pasa Ekklesia, or Religious Denominations in 
the United States,' 1849, passim: *The Reformed Methodists' 
started in 1814; the 'Methodist Society' in 1820; the 'True 
Wesleyan Methodist Church' in 1828 and the 'Methodist Protes- 
tants ' in 1830. 



46 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

one which appeared as a strange prototype of the 
Mormon movement. The ' Pilgrims ' were a vaga- 
bond swarm in the south of Vermont. Sickness 
had rendered the founder visionary; he asserted that 
he was a prophet and claimed immediate inspiration 
from heaven. Property was held in common and 
the leader controlled all the affairs of his followers 
from marriages to punishments. This band, in its 
search for the 'promised land/ attempted to com- 
bine with the Shakers, passed through central New 
York and disappeared in the West.^^ 

Although the larger denomination and not the 
petty sects held sway in Joseph's locality, their in- 
fluence was abnormal. The pioneer churches had 
been founded by the missionary boards of New 
England, but the methods of work were borrowed 
from the Southwest. The doctrines were Calvin- 
istic, the means of grace revivalistic. The camp- 
meeting had originated in Kentucky in 1799, and 
strange phenomena were seen, when thousands fell 
in convulsions and ' the formal professor, the deist, 
the intemperate were collected and laid out in order 
on the meeting house floor. '^^ The methods of 
wholesale conversion spread from the West east- 
ward, and it is significant that, in New York State, 

»i Thompson, p. 203. 

32 H. Howe, ' Historical Collections of the Great West/ Cincinnati, 
1857, p. 216. 



ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 47 

the Great Revival began in Joseph's own town. A 
letter of an itinerant evangelist of the Connecticut 
Missionary Society thus describes the movement: 
' The seriousness began at Palmyra. The youth and 
children seem to be roused up to inquire, What 
must we do to be saved ? A few drops from the 
cloud of glory have fallen upon Pittstown. There 
is uncommon attention to public worship in Canan- 
daigua. It has been difficult during the winter to 
get places large enough to accommodate, or even 
contain the people. The countenances of many 
show how anxious their minds are to know how 
they may flee from the wrath to come.' ^ The other 
side of the picture may be here given and from a 
Mormon standpoint. A brother of Brigham Young 
gives this fragment of experience: *A Methodist 
revival occurred, and religious excitement ran so 
high that it became fashionable to make a profes- 
sion of religion. Every young person but myself 
professed to receive a *' saving change of heart.'' 
Meetings were held nightly. It was the custom to 
request those who were '* seeking religion " to come 
forward to some seat reserved for that purpose, to 
be prayed for. . . . When I failed to come to the 
** anxious seat" Elder Gilmore told me I had sinned 
away the day of grace and my damnation was sure.' ^ 

35 Hotchkin, pp. 36, 37. 

34 Lorenzo D. Young, * Fragments of Experience,' 1882, p. 25. 



48 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

The psycho-physical effect of all this may be 
judged from the experience of another Mormon. 
He says that in one of the protracted meetings * a 
continual stream of glorious truths passed through 
my mind, my happiness was great, and my mind so 
absorbed in spiritual things that all the time the 
meeting lasted, which was about fifteen days, I 
scarcely ate or drank anything. . . . The spirit 
of the Lord so operated on my system that I felt 
full at the time, and had no desire to eat or partake 
of anything.' ^^ The unnatural exaltation, here por- 
trayed, was not such an evil result as the morbid 
depression. Even if the bodily effect was not at 
once manifested, there was an immediate and bale- 
ful influence on the mind. Mental bewilderment 
and melancholia were the accompaniments of youth- 
ful conversion. Confused by the practices of rival 
sectaries, one young 'seeker' wondered why the 
Presbyterians only sprinkled water in the face, while 
the Baptists immersed, and why the Methodists did 
not baptize for remission of sins but demanded an 
'experience.' So Parley Pratt maintains that he 
went West to escape the wrangling about sects and 
creeds and doctrines. ^^ 

The converse of the proposition, that confusion 
in thought, in turn, propagated new sects is one of 

5^5 Benjamin Brown, 'Testimonies for the Truth,* 1853, p. 5. 
38 * Autobiography,* 1888, pp. 23, 26. 



ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 49 

the problems in the founding of the Church of 
Latter-day Saints. But in the case of the individual, 
mental bewilderment passes over into an abhor- 
rence of the doctrines taught. Benjamin Brown, 
the same boy who had experienced an undue ex- 
altation of spirits, was of Quaker parentage. Liv- 
ing on a farm in Washington County, he had gained, 
in his isolation, a strong faith in the Bible. Moving 
to the town, where the sects warred, the jarrings 
and uncertainties of the new ideas shook his sim- 
ple faith. * There,' he relates, *the Universalist 
system appeared most reasonable; the horrible hell 
and damnation theories of most of the other part- 
ies, being in my idea inconsistent with the mercy 
and love of God.'^^ 

The accounts of the Mormon perverts are borne 
out by the report of the very missionary who 
started the Palmyra revival. He observes: — *The 
doctrines to awaken and convince sinners are 
Calvinistic, — the doctrines of man's entire depravity 
of heart by nature and alienation from God; his 
inability while remaining in this state to do any- 
thing acceptable to God; man's particular obligation 
to do the whole law of God; [and] the particular 
election of a select number of the human family to 
final salvation.'^ How such doctrines could have 
been privately believed and publicly set forth, has 

31 * Testimonies,' pp. 3, 4. 38 Hotchkin, p. 39. 



so THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

been but lamely explained. It is alleged that the 
itinerant preacher traveling from month to month 
through the gloom of almost sunless forests ac- 
quired a ' pensive turn of thought/ ^^ 

If the cause is conjectural, the effect is not: a 
sombre theology brought an intense melancholy, — 
' as the exhorters grew^ enthusiastic, the people were 
much exercised over their sinful condition.' ^ Now^ 
such were the preconditions of young Joseph 
Smith's peculiar psychic experiences, of which he 
gives the following account:—" 

First Vision. 

^ Some time in the second year after our re- 
moval to Manchester, there was in the place 

39 Howe, p. 303. 

40 H. Caswell, 'The Life of Joseph Smith the Prophet,* 1888, 

P- 34. 

<i * Pearl of Great Price,' pp. 84-98, extracts from the History of 
Joseph Smith, written by himself in * Times and Seasons,' Volume 
III. There is also Joseph's parallel account written to the Chicago 
Democrat in 1842. Compare ' Handbook of Reference,' pp. 9, 10 : 
— • When about fourteen years of age, I began to reflect upon the 
importance of being prepared for a future state, and upon enquiring 
upon the plan of salvation, I found that there was a great clash in 
religious sentiment ; if I went to one society, they referred me to 
one plan, and another to another, each one pointing to his own 
particular creed as the summum bonum of perfection. Considering 
that all could not be right, and that God could not be the author of 
so much confusion, I determined to investigate the subject more 
fully, believing that if God had a church, it would not be split up 
into factions, and that if He taught one society to worship one way, 



ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 51 

where we lived an unusual excitement on the 
subject of religion. ... I was at this time 
in my fifteenth year. . . . During this time 
of great excitement, my mind was called up to 

and administer in one set of ordinances, He would not teach 
another principles which were diametrically opposed. Believing 
the word of God, I had confidence in the declaration of James, 
** If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all 
men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him." I 
retired to a secret place in a grove and began to call upon the 
Lord. While fervently engaged in supplication, my mind was 
taken away from the objects with which I was surrounded, and I 
was enwrapped in a heavenly vision, and saw two glorious per- 
sonages, who exactly resembled each other in features and likeness, 
surrounded with a brilliant light, which eclipsed the sun at noon- 
day. They told me that all religious denominations were believ- 
ing in incorrect doctrines, and that none of them was acknowledged 
of God as His church and kingdom. And I was expressly com- 
manded to " go not after them " ; at the same time receiving a 
promise that the fulness of the gospel should at some future time 
be made known unto me.* 

Orson Pratt gives a third account of Joseph's first vision in his 
book entitled * Remarkable Visions,' 1841. It is a paraphrase, and, 
yet being written a year before the Chicago Democrat version, may 
contain some first-hand information : — 

* He, therefore, retired to a secret place, in a grove, but a short 
distance from his father's house, and knelt down and began to call 
upon the Lord. At first, he was severely tempted by the powers 
of darkness, which endeavored to overcome him, but he continued 
to seek for deliverance, until darkness gave way from his mind, 
and he was enabled to pray in fervency of the spirit, and in faith ; 
and while thus pouring out his soul, anxiously desiring an answer 
from God, he saw a very bright and glorious light in the heavens 
above, which at first seemed to be at a considerable distance. He 
continued praying, while the light appeared to be gradually de- 
scending towards him; and, as it drew nearer, it increased in 



52 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

serious reflection and great uneasiness ; but 
though my feelings were deep and often pun- 
gent, still I kept myself aloof from all those 

brightness and magnitude, so that by the time that it reached the 
tops of the trees, the whole wilderness, for some distance around, 
was illuminated in a most glorious and brilliant manner. He ex- 
pected to have seen the leaves and boughs of the trees consumed, 
as soon as the light came in contact with them ; but, perceiving 
that it did not produce that effect, he was encouraged with the hope 
of being able to endure its presence. It continued descending 
slowly until it rested upon the earth, and he was enveloped in the 
midst of it. When it first came upon him, it produced a peculiar 
sensation throughout his whole system ; and, immediately, his mind 
was caught away from the natural objects with which he was sur- 
rounded, and he was enwrapped in a heavenly vision, and saw two 
glorious personages, who exactly resembled each other in their 
features or likeness. He was informed that his sins were forgiven. 
He was also informed upon the subjects which had for some time 
previously agitated his mind, namely, that all religious denomi- 
nations were believing in incorrect doctrines ; and, consequently, 
that none of them was acknowledged of God as His church and 
kingdom. And he was expressly commanded to go not after them : 
and he received a promise that the true doctrine — the fulness of 
the gospel — should, at some future time, be made known to him ; 
after which, the vision withdrew, leaving his mind in a state of 
calmness and peace indescribable.* 

* * ^ ik * * 

*0n the evening of the 2ist of September, A. D., 1823, while I 
was praying unto God, and endeavoring to exercise faith in the 
precious promises of scripture, on a sudden, a light like that of day, 
only of a far purer and more glorious appearance and brightness, 
burst into the room ; indeed the first sight was as though the house 
was filled with consuming fire. The appearance produced a shock 
that affected the whole body. In a moment a personage stood be- 
fore me surrounded with a glory yet greater than that with which I 
was already surrounded/ 



ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS S3 

parties, though I attended their several meet- 
ings as often as occasion would permit. . . . 

It was on the morning of a beautiful clear 
day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred 
and twenty. It was the first time in my life 
that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all 
my anxieties I had never as yet made the at- 
tempt to pray vocally. 

After I had retired into the place where I had 
previously designed to go, having looked around 
me and finding myself alone, I kneeled down 
and began to offer up the desires of my heart 
to God. I had scarcely done so, when im- 
mediately I was seized upon by some power 
which entirely overcame me, and had such as- 
tonishing influence over me as to bind my 
tongue so that I could not speak. Thick dark- 
ness gathered around me, and it seemed to me 
for a time as if I were doomed to sudden de- 
struction. But, exerting all my powers to call 
upon God to deliver me out of the power of this 
enemy which had seized upon me, and at the 
very moment when I was ready to sink into 
despair and abandon myself to destruction, not 
to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some 
actual being from the unseen world, who had 
such a marvelous power as I had never before 
felt in any being. Just at this moment of great 
alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my 
head, above the brightness of the Sun, which 
descended gradually until it fell upon me. It 
no sooner appeared than I found myself de- 
livered from the enemy which held me bound. 



54 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

When the light rested upon me, I saw two per- 
sonages whose brightness and glory defy all 
description, standing above me in the air. One 
of them spake unto me. . . . When I 
came to myself again I found myself lying on 
my back, looking up into heaven.' 

Second Vision. 

I continued to pursue my common avoca- 
tions of life until the twenty-first of September, 
one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three, 
all the time suffering severe persecution at the 
hands of all classes of men, both religious and 
irreligious, because I continued to affirm that I 
had seen a vision. 

During the space of time which intervened 
between the time I had the vision, and the year 
eighteen hundred and tAventy-three, (having 
been forbidden to join any of the religious sects 
of the day, and being of very tender years, and 
persecuted by those who ought to have been 
my friends, and to have treated me kindly, and 
if they supposed me to be deluded to have en- 
deavored, in a proper and affectionate manner, 
to have reclaimed me,) I was left to all kinds 
of temptations, and mingling with all kinds of 
society, I frequently fell into many foolish er- 
rors, and displayed the weakness of youth, and 
the corruption of human nature, which I am 
sorry to say led me into divers temptations, to 
the gratification of many appetites offensive in 
the sight of God. In consequence of these 
things I often felt condemned for my weakness 



ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 55 

and imperfections ; when on the evening of the 
above mentioned twenty-first of September, 
after I had retired to my bed for the night, I 
betook myself to prayer and supplication to 
Almighty God, for forgiveness of all my sins 
and follies, and also for a manifestation to me, 
that I might know of my state and standing 
before him; for I had full confidence in ob- 
taining a divine manifestation, as I had pre- 
viously had one. 

While I was thus in the act of calling upon 
God, I discovered a light appearing in the 
room, which continued to increase until the 
room was lighter than at noonday, when imme- 
diately a personage appeared at my bedside, 
standing in the air, for his feet did not touch 
the floor. 

♦ * * * * 

While he was conversing with me about the 
plates, the vision was opened to my mind that 
I could see the place where the plates were de- 
posited, and that so clearly and distinctly, that 
I knew the place again when I visited it. 

After this communication, I saw the light in 
the room begin to gather immediately around 
the person of him who had been speaking to 
me, and it continued to do so, until the room 
was again left dark, except just around him, 
when instantly I saw, as it were, a conduit 
open right up into heaven, and he ascended up 
till he entirely disappeared, and the room was 
left as it had been before this heavenly light 
had made its appearance. 



56 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

I lay musing on the singularity of the scene, 
and marveling greatly at what had been told 
me by this extraordinary messenger, when, in 
the midst of my meditation, I suddenly dis- 
covered that my room was again beginning to 
get lighted, and in an instant, as it were, the 
same heavenly messenger was again by my bed- 
side. He commenced, and again related the 
very same things ^hich he had done at his first 
visit, without the least variation. But this 
time, so deep were the impressions made on 
my mind, that sleep had fled from my eyes, 
and I lay overwhelmed in astonishment at what 
I had both seen and heard ; but what was my 
surprise when again I beheld the same mes- 
senger at my bedside, and heard him rehearse 
or repeat over again to me the same things as 
before . . . almost immediately after the 
heavenly messenger had ascended from me the 
third time, the cock crew, and I found that day 
was approaching, so that our interview must 
have occupied the whole of that night. 

Third Vision. 
I shortly after arose from my bed, and, as 
usual went to the necessary labors of the day, 
but, in attempting to labor as at other times I 
found my strength so exhausted as rendered me 
entirely unable. My father, who was laboring 
along with me, discovered something to be 
wrong with me, and told me to go home. I 
started with the intention of going to the house, 
but, in attempting to cross the fence out of the 



ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 57 

field where we were, my strength entirely failed 
me, and I fell helpless on the ground, and for 
a time was quite unconscious of anything. 
The first thing that I can recollect, was a voice 
speaking unto me calling me by name; I 
looked up and beheld the same messenger 
standing over my head, surrounded by light, 
as before. He then again related unto me all 
that he had related to me the previous night, 
and commanded me to go to my father, and 
tell him of the vision and commandments 
which I had received. I obeyed, I returned 
back to my father in the field and rehearsed 
the whole matter to him.* " 

« These three visions as well as the rest of the series are to be 
gathered from various sources. They are here collated for the 
first time in order to determine Smith*s psycho-physical state. For 
a technical discussion of the subject and for the authorities referred 
to in the text, see Appendix II. It is to be noticed that mother 
Smith alone gives the series complete. To begin with the third 
vision, supplying the dates so far as obtainable. * Biographical 
Sketches,* pp. 81-105, [September 24, 1823.] * The next day, my 
husband, Alvin, and Joseph, were reaping together in the field, 
and as they were reaping Joseph stopped quite suddenly, and 
seemed to be in a very deep study. Alvin, observing it, hurried 
him, saying, *We must not slacken our hands or we will not 
be able to complete our task.' Upon this Joseph went to work 
again, and after laboring a short time, he stopped just as he had 
done before. This being quite unusual and strange, it attracted 
the attention of his father, upon which he discovered that Joseph 
was very pale. My husband, supposing that he was sick, told him 
to go to the house, and have his mother doctor him. He, accord- 
ingly, ceased his work, and started, but on coming to a beautiful 
green, under an apple-tree, he stopped and lay down, for he was so 
weak he could proceed no further. He was here but a short time, 



58 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Were these early visions of Joseph entirely due 
to his religious environment and revivalistic ex- 
periences ? The question is partially ansv/ered by 

when the messenger whom he saw the previous night, visited him 
again, and the first thing he said was, * Why did you not tell your 
father that which I commanded you to tell him ? ' Joseph replied, 
^ I was afraid my father would not believe me.' The angel re- 
joined, ' He will believe every word you say to him.* Joseph then 
promised the angel that he would do as he had been commanded. 
Upon this, the messenger departed, and Joseph returned to the 
field, where he had left my husband and Alvin ; but when he got 
there, his father had just gone to the house, as he was somewhat 
unwell. . . . The ensuing evening, when the family were all 
together, Joseph made known to them all that he had communi- 
cated to his father in the field, and also of his finding the Record, 
as well as what passed between him and the angel while he was at 
the place where the plates were deposited. Sitting up late that 
evening, in order to converse upon these things, together with 
over-exertion of mind, had much fatigued Joseph.' 

[September 22, 1824] 'Joseph again visited the place where he 
found the plates the year previous. In the moment of excitement, 
Joseph was overcome by the powers of darkness, and forgot the in- 
junction that was laid upon him. Having some further conversation 
with the angel on this occasion, Joseph was permitted to raise the 
stone again, when he beheld the plates as he had done before. He 
immediately reached forth his hand to take them, but instead of 
getting them he was hurled back upon the ground with great vio- 
lence. "When he recovered, the angel was gone, and he arose and 
returned to the house, weeping for grief and disappointment.' 

[September(?) 1825 and 1826.] That further visions occurred 
about this time is implied in Joseph's statement : * According as 
I had been commanded, I went at the end of each year, and at 
each time I found the same messenger there, and received instruct- 
ion and intelligence from him at each of our interviews.' 

The next vision is described by Lucy, [January (?) 1827]. 

* Joseph . . . the next January returned with his wife, in 



ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 59 

applying the principles of the modern psychology 
of religion, as derived from cold-blooded statistics. 
According to these tests, Joseph's conversion oc- 

good health and fine spirits. Not long subsequent to his return, my 
husband had occasion to send him to Manchester, on business. As 
he set off early in the day, we expected him home at most by six 
o'clock in the evening, but when six o'clock came, he did not ar- 
rive ; we always had a peculiar anxiety about him whenever he was 
absent, for it seemed as though something was always taking place 
to jeopardize his life. But to return. He did not get home till 
the night was far spent. On coming in, he threw himself into a 
chair, apparently much exhausted. — My husband did not observe 
his appearance, and immediately exclaimed, " Joseph, why are you 
so late ? has anything happened to you ? We have been much 
distressed about you these three hours." As Joseph made no an- 
swer, he continued his interrogations, until, finally, I said, " Now, 
father, let him rest a moment, he is very tired." The fact was I 
had learned to be a little cautious about matters with regard to 
Joseph, for I was accustomed to see him look as he did on that oc- 
casion, and I could not easily mistake the cause thereof. Presently 
he said, " I have taken the severest chastisement that I have ever 
had in my life ... it was the angel of the Lord ; as I passed 
by the hill of Cumorah, where the plates are, the angel met me." * 
[September 22, 1827.] * Joseph started for the plates . . . 
secreted about three miles from home. . . . Joseph coming to 
them, . . . placed them under his arm and started for home. 
After proceeding a short distance, he thought it would be more safe 
to leave the road and go through the woods. Traveling some dis- 
tance after he left the road, he came to a large windfall, and as he 
was jumping over a log, a man sprang up from behind it, and gave 
him a heavy blow with a gun. Joseph turned around and knocked 
him down, then ran at the top of his speed. About half a mile 
further he was attacked again in the same manner as before ; he 
knocked this man down in like manner as the former, and ran on 
again; and before he reached home he was assaulted the third 
time. In striking the last one he dislocated his thumb, which, 



6o THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

curring a year before the average, and therefore 
shows a not uncommon emotional development, 
but the accompanying visions put him in the rarer 
third of youth v^ho have dreams and hallucinations. 



however, he did not notice until he came within sight of the house, 
when he threw himself down in the corner of the fence in order to 
recover his breath. As soon as he was able, he arose and came to 
the house. He was still altogether speechless from fright and the 
fatigue of running. . . . When the chest came, Joseph locked 
up the Record, then threw himself upon the bed, and after resting 
a little, so that he could converse freely ... he showed them 
his thumb, saying, * I must stop talking, father, and get you to put 
my thumb in place, for it is very painful." * 

Compare with the above official accounts the following collat- 
eral evidence: Historical Magazine ^ May, 1870, p. 305. Fayette 
Lapham in an interview with Joseph Smith, senior, narrates: — 
* Joseph, senior, was a firm believer in witchcraft and other super- 
natural things. ... In the course of a year Joseph aided by 
some supernatural light found the treasures. Before he could get 
hold of them he felt something strike him on the breast, which was 
repeated a third time, always with increased force, the last such as 
to lay him upon his back. As he lay there and looked up his 
vision was repeated. (Soon after joining the church he had a 
singular dream.) Next year (after his marriage) — a host of devils 
began to screech and to scream and to make all sorts of hideous 
yells for the purpose of terrifying him. . . . As he returned 
and was getting over the fence, one of the devils struck him a blow 
on his side, where a black and blue spot remained three or four 
days. ... At this point the interview came to an end ; and 
my friend and myself returned home, fully convinced that we had 
smelt a large mice.* 

Compare also, Tiffany* s Monthly ^ May, 1859. Interview with 
Martin Harris, January, 1859: — *When Joseph got the plates, on 
his way home, he was met by what appeared to be a man who 
struck him with a club on his side, which was all black and blue.' 



ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 6i 

Nevertheless with him, as with all, there were ante- 
cedent causes leading up to conviction, — months of 
high mental tension compounded of emotional 
pressure from other religionists and the demands of 
established institutions. Again, his experiences at 
conversion were not unusual: others have felt a 
shock in the body, a feeling of strangling, a load on 
the shoulders, have seen rays of light and glory and 
heard imaginary sounds. With others, likewise, 
there have been the same after effects, — confusion, 
dejection and the sense of sin, followed by joy and 
exultation, lightness of heart and clarified vision. 

The point of consideration in these common ex- 
periences is that they may be put in terms of 
psychic functioning, and may be largely explained 
by the influences of suggestion and hypnotism. 
Just as the so called spontaneous awakenings are 
the fructification of the convert's previous longings 
and strivings, so the ecstatic state is the result of 
the abnormal methods of revival leaders. Such are 
insistence on faith and the monotonous repetition of 
prayers, unconscious suggestion and the laying on 
of hands. If these means for the religious hypnosis 
are viewed in pairs, they present a twofold, a 
psycho-physical aspect. Hence the abnormalities 
of conversion can be further expressed in terms of 
nervous functioning. The exhaustion and helpless- 
ness, the falling to the ground and unconsciousness 



62 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

are attributable to 'decentralization': the higher 
cerebral centres losing control, there is a consequent 
lessening power of rational self-restraint. This lack 
of inhibitory force accounts for the fact that chronic 
religious excitement may be followed by sensual 
excesses, conveniently covered by the revivalistic 
term 'backsliding,' — or, as Joseph Smith expressed 
it, the being * entangled again in the vanities of the 
world/ 

In the attempt to construe these visions, a former 
parallel may be of avail. In his Grace Abounding 
to the Chief of Sinners^ John Bunyan recounts anal- 
ogous experiences. Formerly, it has been said, these 
have been referred to mere theological associations 
and ideas, or to somewhat abnormal, but loosely- 
defined hallucinatory delirium.*' Only recently has 
Bunyan's story been read in its psychological 
aspects, — how as a child he showed some of the 
familiar signs of a sensitive brain; how he was 
possessed with nocturnal terrors of devils and 
waking fears of the day of judgment; how the 
period of melancholic depression and undue elation 
was finally passed over, and Bunyan's reasoning 
power was left formally unaffected.'** This rough 
outline holds true of Joseph Smith; but the vision- 
ary of Manchester alone has a family history in 

*3 Compare T. B. Macaulay, reviewing the • Pilgrim's Progress.* 
4< Josiah Royce, * Studies of Good and Evil,' 1898. 



ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 63 

which there is positive evidence of serious hered- 
itary weakness. A reexamination of Joseph's 
ancestral line discloses a paradox : marked longevity, 
but also a strange heritage of fleshly ills. Of his 
grandmother, Mary Duty Smith, nothing is known; 
but his grandmother, who lived until eighty, had a 
well-nigh fatal illness at forty-seven. His grand- 
father, Asahel Smith, at the age of eighty-six, was 
described as ' just recovering from a severe fit ' and 
of 'weak mind.' In early manhood he was nick- 
named 'Crook-necked Smith,' and with the twist in 
his body there went a twist in his mind.*^ How- 
ever, if three-fourths of the first generation is 
counted a negligible quantity, there is a sufficient 
reason for the young Joseph's terrifying seizures. 
Whatever they may turn out to be, they took place 
on an already prepared ground; the Cadmean seed 
was sown by his maternal grandfather. Solomon 
Mack's abnormal mental experiences have already 
been described; of his physical vicissitudes the most 



**Nehemiah Cleaveland, *An Address at Topsfield, Massachu- 
setts,' New York, 185 1, p. XXV : 'Asahel Smith removed about 
1793, to Tunbridge, in Vermont. This man, like ** Ammon's great 
son, one shoulder had too high ; '' and thence usually bore the signifi- 
cant and complimentary designation of " Crook-necked Smith." 
He was so free in his opinions on religious subjects, that some re- 
garded his sentiments as more distorted than his neck. When he 
went to Vermont, a son, Joseph, then eight or ten years old, ac- 
companied him.' 



64 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

notable were his ' fits/ *® The time of these was not 
in his senile infirmity — described by an eyewitness*^ 
— but in the prime of his manhood; their cause was 
not his self-admitted intoxication as a sailor; it 
was after he was injured in the head, by the falling 
of a tree that the * fits ' came. Furthermore, al- 
though this affliction of the grandsire was accidental, 
its connection with the grandson was not. 

The inference is obvious; Joseph Smith, junior, 
inherited through his mother, what may be called 
for the present a liability to neural instability. So 
far as the records go, Lucy Mack has given dispro- 
portionately fewer details of her own state of 
health, than of her seven brothers and sisters. She 
had her mental delusions, but her physical constitu- 
tion was strong,— judging from the amount of 
work she did to support her young family. Her 



<6 * Narrative,* pp. lo, i8: — <I afterwards was taken with a fit, 
when traveling with an axe under my arm on Winchester hills, the 
face of the land was covered with ice. I was senseless from one 
until five P. M. When I came to myself I had my axe still under 
my arm, I was all covered with blood and much cut and bruised. 
When I came to my senses I could not tell where I had been, nor 
where I was going ; but by good luck I went right and arrived at 
the first house, was under the doctor^s care all the winter. . . . 
At another time I fell in a fit at Tunbridge [Vt.], and was sup- 
ported for the benefit of my soul and others.* 

^T Historical Magazine, November, 1870 : — 'Solomon Mack 
. . . an infirm old man, who used to ride around on horse- 
back on a side-saddle.' 



ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 65 

shiftless husband deserves little notice, except that 
his ' excitement upon the subject of religion ' was 
followed by an annual vision. Until his death, at 
three score and ten, he seems to have fallen ill but 
twice. Now in any hunt for neuropathic antece- 
dents, it is alleged that the collaterals are of import- 
ance, especially on the female side. It is, then, 
significant that Joseph's uncles were robust men, 
but that his aunts were a morbid and unhealthy lot. 
Lovisa Mack, * cured by a mericle,' died two years 
after of consumption; Lovina succumbed to the 
same disease, after lingering three years. 

Coming down to the third generation, Lucy 
Mack Smith's ten children ran the usual gauntlet of 
juvenile ailments. There are but too exceptions: 
Sophronia recovered of a ' typhus, through prayer ' ; 
the first-born, Alvin, was ' murdered ' by a doctor 
through an overdose of calomel. Concerning the 
ailments of the incipient prophet no details are 
omitted, and it is in giving these that the mater- 
familias inadvertently lets go the truth. In describ- 
ing the boy's nervous disposition, and the ravages 
of an infectious fever at the age of six, and also 
the ancestral ulceration calling for a painful surgical 
operation, most pluckily borne, the fond mother piles 
up the preconditions for that 'strange and unusual' 
something which afflicted her offspring. Besides 
the remote causes, the exciting causes of the 



66 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

seizures were equally marked. Chronic religious 
excitement at the age of fourteen was brought to a 
head by a bad fright from the discharge of a gun, 
and this was followed by what was known as 
Joseph's first vision. 

Taken by itself this initial abnormality may be 
attributed to a sense illusion, such as affected the 
grandfather. But the second vision demands more 
specific description, and also a more specific exci- 
ting cause. The latter has been supplied by the 
prophet himself in a suspiciously enigmatic form. 
What took place between the first and second 
visions was described by Joseph as the ' weakness 
of youth, foolish errors, divers temptations and 
gratifications of appetites offensive in the sight of 
God.* Stripped of verbiage this means, for one 
thing, — drunkenness. Concerning this unpleasant 
fact no reliance is to be placed in the multiplied 
affidavits of jealous neighbors, who swore on oath 
that there was much intoxication among the 
Smiths; people in those days had the affidavit 
habit. The sources here used are provided by the 
Saints. Martin Harris one time said that, ' Brother 
Joseph drank too much liquor while translating the 
Book of Mormon * ; upon pressure from the church 
council, he modified this charge to the assertion that 
'this thing occurred previous to the translating.'" 

<8 « Times and Seasons,' 6, 99a. 



ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 67 

For this statement the Mormon Thersites was rep- 
rimanded, yet his evidence was not quashed. 
But the most pertinent item is to be found in an 
early apologetic/^ which was naturally suppressed 
for its ingenuousness; the author grants that the 
prophet was intoxicated twice, but asks the reader 
if he would have done any better, — if he had lived 
in those bibulous days. This acknowledgment has 
much to do with the case, — alcoholism is first in the 

<9 Charles Thompson, < Evidences in Proof of the Book of Mor- 
mon,' Batavia, New York, 1841. (* Brigham Young called in all 
the copies that the Saints hid.' Mrs. Pond, Nauvoo, Illinois, 
May, 1887.— Pencil note on fly leaf). Pp. 184-5 ' * ^^ what extent 
was he intemperate ? D. P. Hurlburt obtained upwards of eighty 
names in Ontario County, signed to documents against Smith's 
character, and published in ** Mormonism Unveiled," and yet but 
bare two instances could all these men name where they saw him 
intoxicated ; and even then, he was capable of attending to his 
own business. And now I ask, who there is that has lived thirty 
years in this world and at a time when it was fashionable for all 
people to make use of ardent spirits as a beverage, and have not 
as much as twice drank too much ? But it is said that " he was 
quarrelsome when intoxicated." Well, this is not very strange.' 

The following statement is conveniently definite, but is the sort of 
testimony to be especially avoided. Some uncritical reviewer in the 
In^^r Oc^an, March, 12, 1899, quotes L. B. Cake, * Old Mormon 
Manuscript Found — Peep Stone Joe exposed,* New York, 1899: — 
• Reed Peek who was an officer of the Danite Band, who delivered 
Joe Smith over to the state troops just in time to avert a bloody 
battle narrates : " September 21, 1823, Joe is drunk. He claims God 
sent an angel to him that day, while he was in bed, and the angel 
makes revelations about the plates. Next morning, September 
22, he goes to the hill of Cumorah, finds the stone box, looks at the 
gold plates, sees the angel, has a struggle with imps of the air." * 



68 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

list of causes prevocative to those seizures which 
afflicted Joseph. 

But briefly to interpret the first two visions. 
They may be put in psycho-physical terms, for 
the apparent objective manifestations were ac- 
tually subjective symptoms. It bespeaks a good 
memory on the part of Smith, that the theophanic 
portions of his visions are precisely what occur in a 
certain form of visual disturbance akin to vertigo. 
The parallel is exact in both the variety and the 
sequence of the phenomena. It is told how a 
patient, experiencing this symptom for the first 
time, describes it as a dimness or blindness, 
followed by a dazzling comparable to that of the 
sun. A second time — as in the second vision — a 
more exact description is given: — 'the luminous 
ball of fire enlarges; its centre becomes obscure; 
gradually it passes beyond the limits of the visual 
field above and below, and the patient sees only a 
portion of it, in the form of a broken luminous line, 
which continues to vibrate until it has entirely dis- 
appeared.' 

Up to this point, Joseph's first two visions may be 
put in the technical terms of ophthalmic migraine. 
Further explanation is needed of his additional 
statements that ' I was seized upon by some 
power ... as to bind my tongue. ... I 
was ready to sink into despair. ... I saw two 



ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 69 

personages . . . one of them spake unto me.' 
It may be said that these phrases are the prophet's 
way of stating the symptoms of a certain form of 
melancholic depression; — in this the patient mani- 
fests a sudden terror, violent palpitations of the 
heart, difficulty in breathing and, along with these 
physical indications, hallucinations of seeing faces 
and hearing voices. No small psychological interest 
lies in Joseph's luminous phantasms and in the ap- 
paritions of known or imaginary beings, with 
whom converse was held. There are examples 
from Mohammed to Swedenborg of persons, who 
have similarly taken themselves for prophets, have 
conversed with the Deity, received predictions and 
commandments. But with the latter-day prophet 
the hallucinatory progression is more complex and 
more serious. The thrice-repeated vision of glory is 
succeeded by terrifying visions and the delirium of 
persecution. His father said that Joseph heard the 
devils shriek and felt their blows; his mother reports 
that the very angel of light turned and chastised 
him. 

Thurlow Weed, when first Joseph submitted to 
him the Book of Mormon^ said that he was either 
crazy or a very shallow impostor. There is no call 
for so harsh a judgment: the visionary seizures 
were not consequent on dementia, nor were they 
feigned. There is a truer and, at the same time, 



^o THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

more charitable explanation, — it is, in a word, that 
Joseph Smith, junior, was an epileptic. Previous 
non-discovery of this condition is no disproof of its 
validity. The boy's parents were entirely ignorant 
of natural causes: his father believed in witchcraft, 
his mother was more conversant with demons than 
with diseases. For all that, both suspected that 
something was the matter. In the third visitation, 
Joseph's pallor and his vacant expression attracted 
the attention of his father. After the sixth visita- 
tion, from which he returned home exhausted and 
speechless, his mother admitted: 'We always had 
a peculiar anxiety about him whenever he was 
absent, for it seemed as though something was 
always taking place to jeopardize his life.' The 
mother also said she had * learned to be a little 
cautious about matters in regard to Joseph,' but the 
father was persistently credulous; in the last vision, 
when Joseph was knocked down by assassins, he 
'went in pursuit of those villains.' 

Steeped in ignorance and superstition, it was not 
to be expected that the parents could diagnose the 
case. It required keener eyes than theirs to locate 
the trouble, inasmuch as veritable epileptic fits may 
be so slight and transitory, that bystanders do not 
notice them, and the patient himself underrates 
them. Moreover in Joseph's case there was a 
special limitation: with but one exception, his 



ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 71 

'visits from the angels* took place away from 
observation, — at night, or far from home. Yet 
the very fact that the first seizures were nocturnal, 
and that the severest attacks occurred in his all-day 
wanderings, furnish cumulative evidence of true 
epileptic convulsions. In the flight of epileptics, it 
is asserted, the patient hastily leaves his domicile 
and commits acts which are often strange and inco- 
herent. So here: Joseph is away all day, on return- 
ing he gives fanciful explanations of his self-inflicted 
injuries. While at the hill Cumorah, hunting for 
the gold plates, he is hurled back upon the ground, 
or chastised by an angel, or assaulted by assassins. 
He returns home, late at night, exhausted or 
speechless with fright, with a bruised body or a 
dislocated thumb.^ This violent flexure of the 

wFor legendary accretions compare 'Times and Seasons,' 5. 
635 : — * Joseph Smith was knocked down by a handspike near 
the hill Cumorah;' also, 'The Martyrs,' p. 15: — «As Joseph 
stood by the sacred deposit " gazing and admiring, the angel said, 
'Look!' And as he thus spake, he beheld the Prince of Dark- 
nesst surrounded by his innumerable train of associates. All this 
passed before him, and the heavenly messenger said, * All this is 
shown, the good and the evil, the holy and impure, the glory of 
God, and the power of darkness, that you may know hereafter the 
two powers, and never be influenced or overcome by the wicked 
one. Behold, whatsoever enticeth and leadeth to good and to do 
good is of God, and whatsoever doth not is of that wicked one. It 
is he that fiUeth the hearts of men with evil, to walk in darkness 
and blaspheme God ; and you may learn from henceforth that his 
ways are to destruction, but the way of holiness is peace and rest. 



72 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

thumb into the pahn is one of those seemingly tri- 
fling symptoms, which — occurring paroxysmally — 
are said to deserve careful analysis. 

But to pass on to the more obvious things. The 
abrupt onsets described by mother Smith are vari- 
ously connected with bodily injury, loss of con- 
sciousness and protracted stupor. On the contrary 
the first two visions, as described by the prophet, are 
little more than psychic paroxysms. Was there any 
ulterior motive behind this limitation? Granting 
that Joseph did not manage to forget what was best 
to forget and that * in later life he believed what he 
asserted,' ^^ the visions, as they stand, furnish evi- 
dence of epilepsy. The first, as a sensorial migraine, 
may be considered the equivalent of a convulsive 
paroxysm; while the second, which followed in- 
toxication, furnishes just those symptoms pre- 
monitory of the real seizure next day. In the night 
the boy had a sense-illusion of dazzling flame and 
consuming fire; the next morning he found his 
strength exhausted, and, starting to cross a fence, 
fell helpless to the ground and for a time was quite 
unconscious of anything. In recounting the all- 
night interview with the angel, the narrator fur- 

You cannot, at this time, obtain this record, for the commandment 
of God is strict, and if ever these sacred things are obtained, they 
must be by prayer and faithfulness in obeying the Lord." 
** G. Q. Cannon, • Life of Joseph Smith,' p. 335. 



ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 73 

nishes the very sensation warnings of epilepsy; it 
remains for his mother to supply the further tell-tale 
particulars. It is more than a coincidence that the 
boy's strange actions, while working in the field, 
precisely correspond to one of those epileptic 
attacks designated vacuity." Elsewhere is given a 
fuller examination of the rest of Joseph's seizures.^ 
The psychic premonitions and the physical after- 
effects, from the delirium of persecution to the dis- 
location of the thumb, — all are accounted for under 
the supposition of epilepsy. It is no forced analogy ; 
the details attach themselves to the scheme as natur- 
ally as barnacles to a rock. 

To explain Joseph's more abnormal experiences, 
one must rest content with epilepsy as a working 
hypothesis. Yet, as such, it binds together a further 
series of otherwise irrelated facts : through it both 
ancestry and progeny fall in line. Looking back- 
ward to the first generation there is antecedent 
probability in the grandfather's ' fits ' on Winchester 
Hills ; looking forward there is corroboration in the 

52 According to Dutil, < Trait6 de Medecine,* this attack is limited 
to loss of consciousness with temporary pallor. < Immovable, with 
his eyes fixed, and a strange air, he remains as if unconscious, see- 
ing nothing, hearing nothing, in a sort of ecstasy. It all lasts only 
several seconds. The patient shortly returns to himself, takes up 
the conversation at the point where he had left off or returns to his 
work.* 

63 See Appendix II. 



74 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

circumstance that * fits ' have reappeared in the fifth 
generation. But confining attention to the life of 
the prophet: although he stood midway in the 
atavistic line of neuropathies, that was no bar to 
later health and strength. The long intervals be- 
tween his seizures, and their cessation at about 
twenty-one, point to one of the more favored cases 
of spontaneous cure. Of his mental robustness the 
same may be said. It is going too high to cite the 
tradition of epileptics such as Caesar and Napoleon, 
since epilepsy vulgarly and commonly may exist in 
an absolutely healthy state of mind. Contrary to 
the opinion of some alienists, there is statistical proof 
that epilepsy does not always lead to mental dis- 
orders. So on the one hand, the attenuated form 
of Joseph's case and the infrequency of his youth- 
ful attacks, and on the other his many successful 
enterprises, especially the management of his can- 
tankerous followers, preclude the idea of absolute 
mental deterioration. 

As to moral deterioration the psychologist is not 
obliged to pass judgment, except to note that the 
psychiatric definition of the epileptic fits the prophet 
to a dot.*^ Yet this one persistent mental trait should 

M Compare R. V. Krafft-Ebing, 'Psychiatric,' 1897, s. 470: 
'Armen Epileptikcr, welche das Gebetbuch in der Tasche, den 
liebcn Gott auf der Zunge und den Ausbund von Canaillerie im 
Leibe tragen.* (Saint.) 



ENVIRONMENT AND VISIONS 75 

be noted: in youth Joseph was secretive and dis- 
trustful, after the first impulsive delirium at Cu- 
morah he spoke of ^the necessity of suppressing 
these things ' ; ^Mn maturity he said ' no man knows 
my history; I cannot tell it.''' In the same way 
there is psychological connection between his early 
emotional instability and those private practices 
which led up to the ' Revelation on the Eternity of 
the Marriage Covenant, Including the Plurality of 
Wives/ But not to peer into this murky and dis- 
agreeable corner of his character, it remains to be 
said that the words of his friends speak louder than 
his own actions, that his self-disclosures are not so 
damaging as the apologies of his followers. Thus 
his ever-faithful scribe Cowdery says: * While 
young, I have been informed, he was afflicted with 
sickness. . . . You will remember that I said 
two invisible powers were operating upon the mind 
of our brother while going to Cumorah. In this, 
then, I discover wisdom in the dealings of the Lord: 
it was impossible for any man to translate the Book 
of Mormon by the gift of God, and endure the afflic- 
tions, the temptations and devices of Satan, with- 
out being overthrown, unless he had been previously 
benefited with a certain round of experience.' 
But to leave this anatomy of melancholy and turn 

S5 * Biographical Sketches,' p. 84. 
66 'Times and Seasons,' 5, 617. 



76 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

to a less irksome task, — the Booh of Mormon, its 
documents, its sources, and its author's mentality. 
To one who has waded through this sea of swash 
there will occur the words of Doctor Johnson con- 
cerning young Chatterton, 'This is the most ex- 
traordinary young man that has encountered my 
knowledge. It is wonderful how the whelp has 
written such things.' 



CHAPTER III 
THE BOOK OF MORMON : THE DOCUMENTS 



CHAPTER III 

THE BOOK OF MORMON: THE DOCUMENTS 

The Book of Mormon is unique in Americana. 
John Eliot translated a bible for the Indians, Joseph 
Smith translated a bible of the Indians. In assert- 
ing their belief that this ' record of the forefathers 
of our western tribes'^ was 'filled with Egyptian 
characters and hieroglyphics/' the Mormons have 
offered a regular psychological puzzle in credulity. 
Yet the nut is not so hard to crack by literary 
methods, and the fiction is mixed with enough fact 
to warrant study. 

The problem of the original materials of the Book 
of Mormon has two aspects : one theoretical, as to 
the * gold plates,' the other practical, as to the state 
of the extant manuscripts. The Mormons still pro- 

»* Times and Seasons,' 5, 707. 

* Orson Pratt, < Remarkable Visions,' title page. Pratt's mental 
calibre is shown by his attempts at * fonetik refawrm/ Compare : 
— • The Deseret Second Book, by the Regents of the Deseret Uni- 
versity. Printed in the Deseret alphabet, invented by Orson Pratt 
and W. W. Phelps, to be used in the Mormon Literature.' 74 pp. 
1868. 

79 



8o THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

fess belief in the actuality of the plates, written, as 
they say, by the hand of Mormon, about 300 a. d. ; 
hid up in the hill Cumorah in New York State and 
found by Joseph Smith, junior, in these latter days.' 
To account for the final disappearance of these ' en- 
gravings of old records which are ancient,' they 
have evolved a theory of levitation.* The so-called 
transcription of the alleged gold plates is still in ex- 
istence.^ It is proved the authentic document from 
a comparison with the characteristic signature of 
Joseph Smith, junior,® and also from the directness 
of transmission. It was long in the possession of 
David Whitmer,^ the second of the three witnesses 

3 The apologetic works on the * Divine Authenticity of the Book 
of Mormon* are endless. The most characteristic are Orson 
Pratt's 'Remarkable Visions,' 1841 ; Thompson's 'Evidences,' 
1841; Reynolds' 'The Story of the Book of Mormon,' 1888; 
James E. Talmage, * Divinity of the Book of Mormon,* 1901. 

♦While in Salt Lake City in June, 1894, I heard of some alleged 
squeezes of the gold plates. On inquiry at the Deseret Museum, a 
curator informed me they had been ' levitated,' I asked him how 
he believed that. He replied, * By faith.' 

6 In the possession of Mr. William Evarts Benjamin, of New 
York City, through whose courtesy I am enabled to present a photo- 
graphic reproduction, reduced by one-fourth. 

6 As shown in the following document, also in the possession of 
Mr. Benjamin : < License issued to Christian Whitmer, signifying 
and proveing that he is a Teacher of this Church of Christ. [Signed] 
Joseph Smith, Jr., first elder; Oliver Cowdery, second elder. 
Fayette, N. Y., June 9th, 1830.' 

7 David Whitmer, « Address,' 1887, P- ^ '• — * ^ ^^ve in my posses- 
sion the original paper containing some of the characters tran- 
scribed from one of the golden plates, which paper Martin Harris 



THE BOOK OF MORMON 8i 

to the Booh of Mormon, and from him passed to his 
grandson/ 

On the opposite page there is given a photo- 
graphic reproduction of the ' Caractors ' as curiously 
written by young Smith. He says that, in Decem- 
ber, 1827, he commenced copying the characters of 
the plates, and by means of the Urim and Thum- 
min he translated some of them.* Their genesis is 
thus given by the prophet's mother: * After bringing 
home the plates . . . Joseph began to make 
arrangements to accomplish the translation of the 
Record. The first step that he was instructed to 
take in regard to this work, was to make a fac- 
simile of some of the characters, which were called 
reformed Egyptian, and to send them to some of 
the most learned men of this generation and ask 
them for the translation thereof.' ^° The 'facsimile' 
was first submitted to a local pundit, by Martin 
Harris, Joseph's financial backer; the former de- 
scribed it as * a slip of paper which contained three 
or four lines of characters, as unlike letters or 

took to Professor Anthon, of New York, for him to read " the words 
of a book that is sealed,^'* * 

8 Mr. George W. Schweich, of Richmond, Missouri, writing, 
March 7, 1899, described the slip of paper containing the 'carac- 
tors * as * the supposed or alleged transcription or tracing taken by 
Martin Harris to Professor Anthon, of Amherst College, from the 
gold plates then in the hands of the promoters.* 

s • Pearl of Great Price,' p. 103. 

>o * Biographical Sketches,' pp. 107, 109. 



82 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

hieroglyphics of any sort as well could be produced 
were one to shut up his eyes and play off the most 
antic movements with his pen upon paper.'" In 
February, 1828, Harris took a secondary copy of 
this document to Professor Anthon of New York 
city.^^ He pronounced it ' a singular scroll. It con- 
sisted of all kinds of crooked characters, disposed 
in columns, and had evidently been prepared by 
some person who had before him at the time a book 
containing various alphabets. Greek and Hebrew 
letters, crosses and flourishes, Roman letters, in- 
verted or placed sideways, were arranged and 
placed in perpendicular columns.'^' 

11 J. A. Clark, then at Palmyra, N. Y. His book * Gleanings by 
the Way' gives one of the few reliable early accounts of Mor- 
monism. 

»2 < Biographical Sketches,' pp. 107, 109. 

'3 Letter of February 17, 1834, in New York Independent. In a 
letter of April 3, 1 841, in the Church Record^ Professor Anthon said 
that the characters were a * singular medley of Greek, Hebrew and 
all sorts of letters, more or less distorted either through unskilful- 
ness or design, and intermingled with sundry delineations of half- 
moons, stars and other natural objects and the whole ending in a 
rude representation of the Mexican Zodiac, evidently copied from 
Humboldt, but in such a way as not to betray the source.' Note 
that this tail piece belonged to a secondary copy which is thus de- 
scribed in Mormon fashion by F. G. Bishop, * Address,' p. 48 : — * The 
characters on these plates, as seen through the Interpreters, have 
the appearance of Hieroglyphics, or something resembling pictures 
of a great variety of shapes. On the last plate is a circle with rays 
proceeding from it resembling the sun, as commonly sketched, and 
around this circle are twenty-four circles more composed of figures 
resembling stars and half-moons.' 



THE BOOK OF MORMON 83 

A garbled account of this interview was after- 
wards published by the prophet." In this the scholar 
is made to assert that the untranslated characters 
from the plates were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac 
and Arabic, but that he could not read that part of 

J^ ' Pearl of Great Price,* pp. 103-4. « Some time in this month 
of February, the aforementioned Mr. Martin Harris came to our 
place, got the characters which I had drawn off the plates, and 
started with them to the city of New York. For what took place 
relative to him and the characters, I refer to his own account of 
the circumstances as he related them to me after his return, which 
was as follows : 

I went to the city of New York, and presented the characters 
which had been translated, with the translation thereof, to Pro- 
fessor Anthon, a gentleman celebrated for his literary attainments. 
Professor Anthon stated that the translation was correct, more so 
than any he had before seen translated from the Egyptian. I then 
showed him those which were not yet translated, and he said that 
they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic, and he said 
that they were the true characters. He gave me a certificate, 
certifying to the people of Palmyra that they were true characters, 
and that the translation of such of them as had been translated 
was also correct. I took the certificate and put it into my pocket, 
and was just leaving the house, when Mr. Anthon called me back, 
and asked me how the young man found out that there were gold 
plates in the place where he found them. I answered that an 
angel of God had revealed it unto him. 

He then said unto me, " Let me see that certificate." I accord- 
ingly took it out of my pocket and gave it to him, when he took it 
and tore it to pieces, saying that there was no such thing now as 
ministering of angels, and that if I would bring the plates to him, 
he would translate them. I informed him that part of the plates 
were sealed, and that I was forbidden to bring them ; he replied, 
"I cannot read a sealed book." I left him and went to Dr. 
Mitchell, who sanctioned what Professor Anthon had said respect- 
ing both the characters and the translation.' 



84 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

the plates which was sealed, thus fulfilling the 
prophecy of Isaiah, that the learned could not read 
the words of a book that was sealed. ^^ 

At the time, young Smith doubtless believed in 
the supernatural origin of his transcript. The reason 
for this was that it was written under more or less 
unconscious conditions. The man who first saw it 
almost hit the nail on the head when he said such 
characters could be produced if one were to shut up 
his eyes. As will be seen, the paper bears marks 
of being written under the influence of veritable 
crystal gazing. In that self-induced, trance-like 
state Joseph's involuntary scratchings would appear 
to him occult, mysterious, true revelations from 
heaven. For a scientific explanation of the matter 
there is no need to call in the activities of a 'second 
personality,'^^ but merely those of the subconscious 
self. The scrawl is analogous to the scribblings 
of the undeveloped automatically-writing hand," 

J5 * Whitmer Address,' p. 1 1. 

^ 6 Proceedings of the 'Society for Psychical Research,* 12, 318. 
• The bulk of automatic writings, including the first scrawls of the 
planchette, are not indications of the formation of the second per- 
sonality.' 

1"^ Taine, * De V Intelligence/ third edition, pp. 16, 17, cites the 
case of a woman who, while conversing, wrote with a handwriting 
different from ordinary style ; the fingers were stiff, the movement 
automatic ; the writing finished with the signature of a deceased 
person and bore the impress of secret thoughts, — of a mental back- 
ground which the author was not inclined to divulge. 



THE BOOK OF MORMON 85 

such as is found even among the uncivilized.^® If 
the ultimate solution of this document is a problem 
for abnormal psychology, its make up is no great 
mystery. As the contents of the Booh of Mormon 
can be traced to indigenous sources — the ideas 
which Joseph picked up in the Indian country where 
he lived — so it is with these characters. The more 
elaborate resemble the picture writing of the aborig- 
ines, such as would interest a boy.^' It is going 
too far to hunt for Greek and Hebrew letters, for 
the tables of foreign alphabets had not yet appeared 
in current dictionaries.^ The job is home-made: 
if Joseph had not taken the matter so seriously, this 
might be considered an amusing burlesque on a 
farmer's almanac, for he has only half concealed the 
signs of the Zodiac and those cabalistic aspects and 
nodes which may go with the planting of potatoes. 
That which betrays the puerility, and, at the same 
time, the genuineness of the document, is the curi- 
ous fact that the youth's own name appears twice 
in a soit of cryptogram. His neighbors called him 
' peep-stone Joe,' his mother said that he was ' given 

>8 Albert Moll, * Hypnotism,' London, 1901, p. 267. 

»9 Imitation of Indian glyphics are also to be seen on various 
tombstones in Joseph's native state, commemorating the Indian 
raids of 1754. 

'0 Noah Webster's Dictionary of this date has only tables of 
moneys, weights and measures. Thus the pound sterling sign oc- 
curs in the top line of the * caractors.' 



86 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

to deep meditation and study,' he himself described 
his * Interpreters ' as crystals, — all this, taken in con- 
nection with his manner of 'translating,' furnish 
the clue to this original autograph. As his scribe, 
Martin Harris, affirmed: * Brother Joseph knew not 
the contents of the Book of Mormon until it was 
translated/ " As is elsewhere shown, Joseph's con- 
dition, under the influence of his ' Urim and Thum- 
mim,' was semi-hypnotic." Now it is a common- 
place of experiment that while in this state, which 
is hardly more than reverie, the subject often writes 
back-handed, or backwards, or even left-handed 
with the right hand.^ Now if the transcription be 
turned over and read through from the back there 
may be deciphered towards the right end of the third 
line, below ' Caractors,' first, the letters JOE, back- 
hand and rather indistinct; and, second, the letters 



21 ' Times and Seasons/ 6, 992. 

'• The only previous suggestion of this has been put in terms of 
clairvoyance ; it is that * Joseph gazed upon that Urim and Thum- 
mim until his mind became psychologized, and the impressions that 
he received he dictated to his scribe.* T. B. H. Stenhouse, ' Rocky 
Mountain Saints,* p. 551. This book is the most suggestive of any 
of the works of apostates. Stenhouse had lived abroad but evi- 
dently knew nothing of the continental psychology. Compare his 
works written before he left the church : La Rkjlecteur^ a Mor- 
mon paper, published at Geneva, and, « Les Mormons et leurs 
Ennemis,* at Lausanne. 

'5 Compare Binet and F6r6, * Animal Magnetism,' New York, 
1898, figures 13 and 14, p. 298. 



THE BOOK OF MORMON 87 

S O J, more upright and better formed." In other 
words, the youth, without knowing it, wrote his 
nickname entire and half of his given name in reverse. 
That unconscious cerebration played a large part 
in the evolving of the gold plate scheme is not 
improbable. The youthful prophet's self-obfusti- 
cation is likely from an antecedent heritage of 
credulity. There may not have been continuous 
faith in his continuous revelations, but there was, 
throughout his life, a naive confidence in his own 
learning. As Voltaire said of Habbakuk, he was 

"Exactly how this scrawl was written is immaterial. The 
probability that the reversal of the script was due to a general ab- 
normal condition is only increased by the prophet's later explana- 
tion, that it was Hebraic in character. This was a clever after- 
thought, borrowed either from Sidney Rigdon, who owned a He- 
brew Lexicon, or from a polyglot Bible which Joseph somehow ob- 
tained. Compare 'Times and Seasons,' 5, 614, also Littlefield, 
• The Martyrs,' p. 21. * In relation to the title of the book, Joseph 
says, in his history : < I wish to mention here, that the title page 
of the " Book of Mormon " is a literal translation, taken from the 
very last leaf, on the left-hand side of the collection or book of 
plates, which contained the record which has been translated, the 
language of the whole running the same as all Hebrew writing in 
general ; and that said title page is not by any means a modern 
composition, either of mine or any other man's who has lived or 
does live in this generation. Therefore, in order to correct an er- 
ror which generally exists concerning it, I give below that part of 
the title page of the English version of the ** Book of Mormon " 
which is a genuine and literal translation of the title page of the 
original " Book of Mormon," as recorded on the plates — 

The Book of Mormon. 

An account written by the hand of Mormon^ upon Plates^ taken 

from the Plates of NephV 



88 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

capable de tout. In April, 1829, he translated a 
'parchment written and hid up by John the be- 
loved disciple/'^ As soon as the Book of Mormon 
was on the market, he started on the Fisions of 
Moses ; six months later there were revealed the 
Writings of Moses.^^ In March, 1833, the prophet 
was told not to translate the Apocrypha, for it was 
'mostly translated correctly/" In July, 1834, he 

w « Book of Commandments,' Chapter VI. 

26 1 Pearl of Great Price,' pp. i-6 ; 8-49. In these curious bib- 
lical paraphrases Joseph seems dimly to reproduce his own ab- 
normal experiences ; < And it came to pass that Moses looked and 
beheld the world upon which he was created, and as Moses beheld 
the world and the ends thereof, and all the children of men which 
are, and which were created of the same, he greatly marveled and 
wondered. And the presence of God withdrew from Moses, that 
his glory was not upon Moses ; and Moses was left unto himself. 
And as he was left unto himself, he fell unto the earth. And it 
came to pass that it was for the space of many hours before Moses 
did again receive his natural strength like unto man ; and he said 
unto himself, now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, 
which thing I never had supposed ; but now mine eyes have be- 
held God; but not my natural, but my spiritual eyes, for my 
natural eyes could not have beheld ; for I should have withered 
and died in his presence ; but his glory was upon me ; and I be- 
held his face, for I was transfigured before him.* 

37 « Revelation given through Joseph, the Seer, at Kirtland, Geauga 
County y Ohio, March gth, i8jj. 

Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you concerning the Apocrypha, 
there are many things contained therein that are true, and it is 
mostly translated correctly ; 

There are many things contained therein that are not true, which 
are interpolations by the hands of men. 

Verily, I say unto you, that it is not needful that the Apocrypha 
should be translated. 



THE BOOK OF MORMON 89 

had completed a ' Revised Translation of the Old 
and New Testaments'; as he said: Mt was appar- 
ent that many important points touching the salva- 
tion of man, had been taken from the Bible, or lost 
before it was compiled.' ^® In 1842, as editor of the 
notable third volume of the Times and Seasons, he 
published a * Translation of some Ancient Records, 
that have fallen into our hands from the Catacombs 



Therefore, whoso readeth it, let him understand, for the Spirit 
manifesteth truth ; 

And whoso is enlightened by the Spirit, shall obtain benefit 
therefrom ; 

And whoso receiveth not by the Spirit, cannot be benefited, 
therefore it is not needful that it should be translated. Amen.* 

88 < Times and Seasons,' 5, 592. Compare Smith's second Lec- 
ture on Faith ; * Doctrine and Covenants,' p. 13 : — 

* We next proceed to present the account of the direct revelation 
which man received after he was cast out of Eden, and further 
copy from the new translation — 

After Adam had been driven out of the garden, he < began to till 
the earth and to have dominion over all the beasts of the field, and 
to eat his bread by the sweat of his brow, as I the Lord had com- 
manded him.' And he called upon the name of the Lord, and so 
did Eve, his wife, also. « And they heard the voice of the Lord, 
from the way towards the garden of Eden, speaking unto them, and 
they saw Him not, for they were shut out from His presence; and 
He gave unto them commandments that they should worship the 
Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks for an 
offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the com- 
mandments of the Lord. 

*And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto 
Adam, saying, ** Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord ? " 
And Adam said unto him, *'I know not; save the Lord com- 
manded me." 

« And then the angel spake, saying, " This thing is a similitude 
of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, who is full of 
grace and truth. And thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name 
of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name 
of the Son for evermore." And in that day the Holy Ghost fell 
upon Adam, which beareth record of the Father and the Son.' 



90 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

of Egypt, the writings of Abraham while he was in 
Egypt, called the Booh of Abraham, written by his 
own hand, upon Papyrus/ ^^ Six months before his 
death the prophet said : * I combat the error of 
ages and I solve mathematical problems of universi- 
ties WITH TRUTH, diamond truth/ ^^ On August 20th, 
1843, he told a visitor at Nauvoo that, relying on 
the *gift of tongues,' he could * read Greek as fast 
as a horse can run.'*^ Finally he promulgated his 
famous refutation of the statement, that the word 
Mormon is borrowed from the Greek word, signify- 
ing a bugbear or hobgoblin:— 

I may safely say that the word Mormon 
stands independent of the learning and wisdom 
of this generation. Before I give a definition, 
however, to the word, let me say that the Bible 
in its widest sense, means *good,' for the Sa- 
viour says, according to the Gospel of St. John, 
*I am the good shepherd,' and it will not be 
beyond the common use of terms to say that 
good is amongst the most important in use and, 
though known by various names in different 
languages, still its meaning is the same, and is 
ever in opposition to bad. We say from the 
Saxon, Good; the Dane, God; the Goth, 
Goda; the German, Gut; the Dutch, Goed ; 

«9 * Pearl of Great Price/ pp. 49-69. 
30 'Times and Seasons,' November 13, 1843. 
31 < Universalis! Union,' 9, 376; interview of 'W. S. B.' on 
August 20th, 1843. 



THE BOOK OF MORMON 91 

the Latin, Bofiiis ; the Greek, Kalos ; the He- 
brew, Tob ; the Egyptian, Mon ; hence with 
the addition of niore^ or the contraction, mor^ 
we have the word Mormon^ which means liter- 
ally, 7nore good, * 

To the followers of the prophet, all this was very 
wonderful; it satisfied their greed for the unknow- 
able, and was proof of the supernaturalness of his 
wisdom. To clinch the matter, the apologists for 
the divine origin of the Book of Mormon, lay stress 
on the author's early lack of education. One gives 
him but a hmited understanding of the three rudi- 
ments;^^ another calls attention to the misspelling of 
the word ' Caractors/^^ Where then did he get his 
esoteric linguistics ? To the faithful it is a mystery : 
the stream rises higher than its sources. It is here 
that extremes meet; the devout exaggerate their 
founder's ignorance to heighten the wonder of his 
writings, the profane to prove that his works were 
another's. Neither considers the possibihties of his 

32 T. Horton, *A True History,' Geneva, N. Y., 184-, p. 3. 
« He could read without much difficulty, and write a very im- 
perfect hand ; and had a very limited understanding of the ground 
rules of arithmetic* 

33 Stevenson, * Reminiscences,' p. 33. « It was well known that 
Joseph was not learned, and claimed to be only a farmer's boy with- 
out the opportunities for a scholastic education. . . . Permit 
me to offer some striking evidence to show that the prophet was 
not learned, by the word directly over the lines of characters. 
•« The Seven Lines of Characters " are headed " Caractors." ' 



92 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

mentality, — that along with what he called a ' fear- 
ful imagination/^* he had an adhesive memory, and 
that whatever fell in his way stuck fast. It is true 
that he had little use for books,*^ but he utilized 
men. The learning of his contemporaries was poor 
but he made it his own. His absorptive acts were 
many and various. He was directed by revelation 
to 'study and learn, and become acquainted with 
all good books, and with languages, tongues, and 
people.' So the Visions and Writings of Moses 
came out with the appearance on the scene of Sid- 
ney Rigdon the peripatetic prodigy of the Western 
Reserve.^^ Again Joseph began publicly to interpret 
the Hebrew Scriptures, some time after 'Messrs. 
Peixotto and Noah' had been impressed into the 
' department of Hebrew in the University of Nau- 
voo.'^^ But in the biblical tongues he apparently 

34 < Times and Seasons,' 6, Ii2i. 

35 Smith read at least the following, the <Book of Martyrs,' 
« Smith's Dictionary of the Bible,' the < United States Constitution.' 
He also, later, had access to his partner Rigdon's library, which 
< was a very good student's collection, Hebrew, Greek and Latin 
lexicons and readers, stray volumes of Shakespeare, Scott, Irving's 
works and a number of other valuable books.' Overland 
Monthly f December, 1890, letter of Charlotte Haven fromNauvoo, 
March 26th, 1843. 

36* Book of Commandments,' Chapter 39. *A Revelation to 
Joseph and Sidney,' December, 1830, — * It is not expedient that 
ye should translate any more until ye shall go to the Ohio.' 

37 < Joseph the Seer,' p. 84. Compare also the prospectus in < Times 
and Seasons,' Volume 3, where Sidney Rigdon has charge of the 
* Department of Belles Lettres,' 



THE BOOK OF MORMON 93 

got no further than this: 'I will make a comment 
on the very first sentence of the history of creation 
in the Bible, BerosheiV Finally before his poly- 
glot audiences ^^ he flourished a polyglot Bible, and 
' preached a little Latin, a little Hebrew, Greek and 
German.' ^^ 

All this the Saints believed came as the result of a 
revelation to Joseph to study the languages. But 
Smith's linguistic masterpiece was the Booh of 
Abraham, Joseph announced this to be ' a transla- 
tion of Some Ancient Records, that have fallen into 
our hands from the catacombs of Egypt ';^ an 
Egyptologist pronounced it to be an account of the 
Resurrection of Osiris.^^ But the Frenchman took 
the Yankee Tartuflfe more seriously than he took 
himself. Josiah Quincy said there was an unmis- 
takable wink in Smith's eye after showing oflf ' the 
Egyptian Mummies, and the autograph of Moses.' " 

38 « Times and Seasons,* 2, 496 ; In the city of Nauvoo were to be 
found 'the enterprising Englishman, the hardy Scotchman, the 
warm hearted son of Erin, the Pennsylvania Dutchman, and the 
honest Canadian.' For the mixture of races in Mormonism com- 
pare also the various translations of the * Book of Mormon ' into 
French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Welsh, etc. 

39* Times and Seasons,' 5, 614, report of Smith's Conference Ser- 
mon, April, 1833. 

40 < Times and Seasons,' 3, 704. 

41 Jules Remy and Julius Brenchley, « A Journey to Great Salt 
Lake City,' 2, 536. 

" ' Figures of the Past,' p. 384. 



94 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

It is a relief to find this single gleam of humor in 
the dreary sketch of seriousness. But that the 
prophet anticipated Artemus Ward in the show 
business would hardly be allowed by the Saints. Of 
the evolution of the Book of Abraham, *^ the official 
Mormon account is as follows: — *July 3d, 1835, 
Michael H. Chandler came to Kirtland to exhibit 
four Egyptian mummies and two or more rolls of 
papyrus, covered with hieroglyphic figures and 
devices. They were afterwards purchased by some 

« « Pearl of Great Price,' p. 59, gives * a facsimile from the 
" Book of Abraham." ' The explanation of the cut shows that even 
Joseph's imagination could suffer from over straining : 

Fig. I. Kolob, signifying the first creation, nearest to the 
celestial, or residence of God. First in government, the last per- 
taining to the measurement of time. The measurement according 
to celestial time, which celestial time signifies one day to a cubit. 
One day, in Kolob, is equal to a thousand years, according to the 
measurement of this earth, which is called by the Egyptians Jah- 
oh-eh. 

Fig. 5. Is called in Egyptian Enish-go-on-dosh ; this is one of 
the governing planets also, and is said by the Egyptians to be the 
Sun, and to borrow its light from Kolob through the medium of 
Kae-e-vanrash, which is the grand Key, or, in other words the 
governing power, which governs fifteen other fixed planets or 
stars, as also Floeese or the Moon, the Earth and the sun in their 
annual revolutions. This planet receives its power through the 
medium of Kli-flos-is-es, or Hah-ko-kau-beam, the stars represented 
by numbers 22 and 33, receiving light from the revolutions of 
Kolob. 

Fig. 6. Represents the earth in its four quarters. 

Fig. 7. Represents God sitting upon his throne revealing 
through the heavens, the grand Key- Words of the Priesthood ; as 
also, the sign of the Holy Ghost unto Abraham, in the form of a 
dove. 

Fig. 8. Contains writing that cannot be revealed unto the 
world ; but is to be had in the Holy Temple of God. 

Fig. 9. Ought not to be revealed at the present time. 



THE BOOK OF MORMON 95 

of the Saints, and Joseph Smith, junior, translated 
some of the characters on the rolls. One was found 
to contain the writings of Abraham, another the 
writings of Joseph in Egypt.'" 

To return to the writings of the latter day Joseph 
in America, and to take up the practical question of 
the state of the original manuscript of the Booh of 
Mormon. The printed editions furnish no exact 
information: they only serve to give a hazy idea of 
the immense number of successive corrections. The 
Mormon preaching of continuous revelation is like 
the Mormon practice of continuous emendation. 
Comparing a late with the earliest edition, 
two thousand changes have been counted.*^ But 
the publishers themselves admit editorial correc- 
tions. While the title page of the third edition*® 
reads,— * Carefully revised by the translator,' the 
preface of the second edition*^ is more frank as to 
the possibility of variations : — 

'Individuals acquainted with book printing, are 
aware of the numerous typographical errors which 
always occur in manuscript editions. It is only 
necessary to say, that the whole has been carefully 
reexamined and compared with the original manu- 
scripts, by elder Joseph Smith, junior, the transla- 

**< Handbook of Reference,' p. 45. 

*5 Lamoni Call, ' Two Thousand Changes in the Book of Mor- 
mon,' 1898. 
<6 Nauvoo, Illinois, 1840. 
41 Kirtland, Ohio, 1837. 



96 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

tor of the Booh of Mormon, assisted by the present 
printer, brother O. Cowdery, who formerly wrote 
the greatest portion of the same, as dictated by 
brother Smith/ *^ 



There is further, definite, first-hand information 
and from Mormon sources. The typesetter of the 
first edition said that he suppHed all the punctua- 
tion, but did not change the spelling of more than 
one or two words/^ In fine, from extant testi- 
mony,^'' it is hard to show that the changes in the 

48 Compare also « Times and Seasons,' 6, 8oo, joint letter of Smith, 
Rigdon and Williams to W. W. Phelps June 25, 1833 : — ' As soon 
as we can get time, we will review the manuscripts of the " Book 
of Mormon." * 

49 George Reynolds, * The Myth of the Manuscript Found,* pp. 
58-9. Interview with John Gilbert, March, 1881 : — * I am the 
party that set the type from the original manuscript for the " Book 
of Mormon." I would know that manuscript to-day if I should see 
it. The most of it was in Oliver Cowdery's handwriting. Some 
in Joseph's wife's ; a small part though. . . . We had a great 
deal of trouble with it. It was not punctuated at all. They did 
not know anything about punctuation, and we had to do that our- 
selves. . . . We never changed it in the least. I believe that I 
did change the spelling of one, and perhaps two [words] , but no more.' 
Compare * American Bookseller,' 4, 617, quoting an interview in the 
Detroit Tribune of December 2, 1877, i^ which J. H. Gilbert the 
typesetter avers that the < Book of Mormon,' was written on fools- 
cap in a good clear hand ; the handwriting was Oliver Cowdery's ; 
there was not a punctuation mark in the whole manuscript ; it took 
eight months to set up and print. 

60 Pomeroy Tucker of Palmyra, New York, who did the press- 
work, is reported to have had in his possession the first sheets, with 
printer's corrections, which he pulled off himself. 



THE BOOK OF MORMON 97 

Booh of Mormon are of more than secondary im- 
portance. 

To take up the more important question of 
origins and the vicissitudes of the original docu- 
ment, in the handwriting of Joseph's scribes. Its 
fate has been compared to that of young McPher- 
son's Ossianic documents, which were never forth- 
coming.^^ The case is hardly analogous: so late as 
1887, David Whitmer, one of the three witnesses, 
claimed to have in his possession the very original, 
in the handwriting of Oliver Cowdery and others." 
This Cowdery manuscript is now in New York 
City, having been transmitted to the present pos- 
sessor," through Whitmer's grandson.^* That this 
is close to the original, is to be surmised from the 
interest taken in it by the Utah Mormons. It is 
contended that Whitmer did not sell it, fearing in- 
terpolation in the pages containing the condemna- 

51 For the Ossianic controversy, compare The Academy^ 46, 205 ; 
Edmund Gosse, < History of Eighteenth Century Literature,' pp. 
335-337 ; Macmillan^s Magaziney 24, 113 ; H. A. Beers, « History 
of English Romanticism,' pp. 306-338 ; Shairp, * Aspects of Poetry,' 
p. 228. 

62* Address,' p. 11. 

53 Mr. William Evarts Benjamin, through whose courtesy the fol- 
lowing data were obtainable. 

5-* Mr. George W. Schweich, of Richmond, Missouri, who writes, 
January 27, 1902, that he still has in his possession the manuscript 
history of the early Church by John Whitmer. The latter was 
*set apart by revelation as historian of the Church,' March 8, 1831. 
The Saints claim that these records were purloined in 1838. 



98 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

tion of polygamy/' There is some ground for 
believing that Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith 
considered the manuscript genuine. In view of 
the Mormon's handling of the alleged Spaulding 
prototype of the Book of Mormon, their critical 
opinion is w^orthless. 

To examine the document in question. There 
are three bits of external evidence, which imply the 
existence of a number of first hand copies. The 
second edition uses the plural, — 'original manu- 
scripts'; Whitmer himself mentions another partial 
transcription '' while at the same time, he asserts 

55 Jacob T. Child writes to George W. Schweich, August 28, 
1896 : — * I was present when Elders Orson Pratt and Smith, from 
Salt Lake City, called on your grandfather in regard to the manu- 
script of the " Book of Mormon," and upon it being shown to them 
Elder Pratt recognized the handwriting of Oliver Cowdery and 
Mrs. Smith. After some conversation Elder Pratt asked Mr. 
Whitmer if he would dispose of the manuscript, stating that he 
would give anything in reason for it, as the archives of the Church 
were incomplete without it. There was no fixed sum named but 
your grandfather was afraid that if he parted with it that they 
might interpolate.' Compare affidavit of Jacob T. Child, April 8th, 
1902: < The authenticity of the manuscript of the "Book of 
Mormon," owned by David Whitmer and falling to George W. 
Schweich, his grandson, is exactly as it was placed in the hands of 
the printer; . . . [this] can be easily seen from the " takes " 
and finger-marks. ... I also have a copy of the Palmyra edi- 
tion in which David Whitmer asserted that this is a true and 
correct printed copy of the original manuscript.' 

56 « Address,* p. 32. — * In August, 1829, the * Book of Mormon,' was 
still in the hands of the printer, but my brother. Christian 
Whitmer, had copied from the manuscript the teachings and 



THE BOOK OF MORMON 99 

that his copy is the original. But the promoters 
themselves furnish considerable information. The 
most definite statement is that regarding a com- 
mandment, received by Joseph soon after June 11, 
1829, when the book was copyrighted. It was to 
the effect that Oliver Cowdery should transcribe the 
whole manuscript and that he should take but one 
copy at a time to the office, so that if one copy 
should get destroyed, there would still be a copy 
remaining." 

That the original has disappeared, and that the 
manuscript in hand is the secondary Cowdery copy, 
remains to be proved. Negatively, the state of the 
manuscript does not agree with the statements of 
the author. Joseph employed three scribes in dic- 
tating the translation of the Record. These were, 
in order, his wife, Emma Hale; a schoolmaster, 
Oliver Cowdery; and a farmer. Christian Whitmer.'^ 

doctrine of Christ, being the things which we were commanded to 
preach.* 

51 « Biographical Sketches,' 142-3. An earlier revelation, April, 
1829, speaks of * other records.' See * Book of Commandments,* 
Chapter 8. 

5^ Chronology t from Mormon sources : — 

Two or three years before September, 1 827, the plates were 
mentioned to Martin Harris : 

January 18, 1827. Joseph married Emma Hale ; she writes for 
him only a short time. 

April 5, 1829. Joseph met Oliver Cowdery for the first time. 

April, 1829. Revelation to Oliver, when employed a scribe for 



Joseph; 



L.oFC. 



100 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Now the three amanuenses would eventuate in 
three distinct styles of handwriting, but here the 
script is throughout the characteristic and authenti- 
cated hand of Cowdery. More positively the uni- 
form quality of the paper, the continuation of the 
water marks and like signs ^' go to show that this 



June, 1829. Joseph removed to the residence of the Whitmers. 

June 1 1, 1829. The * Book of Mormon ' copyrighted. 

The earliest date of composition is given by an anti-Mormon 
writer. In Scribner's Magazine, August, 1880, p. 613, Thurlow 
Weed said that, as editor of the Rochester Telegram in 1825, he 
was approached by Joseph Smith, with the view of pubhshing the 
<Book of Mormon,* and that he already had the first chapter 
written. 

5^ There is change in the quality of the ink and the smoothness 
of the pen, but not in the individualities of letter formation. The 
continuous crabbed hand is that of Oliver Cowdery as authenticated 
by another document also in the possession of Mr. W. E. Benjamin, 
viz. : — License issued to Christian Whitmer * signifying and proveing 
that he is a teacher of this Church of Christ. [Signed] Joseph 
Smith, Jr., first elder; Oliver Cowdery, second elder. [Dated] 
June 9th, 1830, Fayette, N. Y.' 

More positively this manuscript is unmistakably the work of one 
person, and not the occasional dictations of several, from the quality 
of the paper. Its size is uniform, while there appear throughout 
the same water marks O & H, which validate not only the pages 
on which they stand, but also the connected folios. From the 
latter circumstance, the present holder deduced that a quantity 
must have been obtained at one time, ergo the purchaser must have 
known the extent of the copying to be done. Finally the absence 
of printer's smudge and the lack of proof-reader's marks furnish 
incidental proof that this was not the copy that went to E. B. 
Grandin's printing office. Of the other persons concerned in these 
transactions little is known, except that the printer's devil was * a 



THE BOOK OF MORMON loi 

manuscript is not the piecemeal original, but the 
work of one person. 

Leaving these material signs, there remain verbal 
and literal tests ^ for determining the further ques- 
tion of date, for finding out how early this docu- 
ment really was. From a comparison of several 
passages with the first three editions of the Book of 

young man by the name of Robinson.' Compare * Biographical 
Sketches/ p. 143. 

«o The transmitter calls attention to the erasures or crossed out 
items, and the minor corrections somewhat different from any of 
the publications, and thereby seeks to prove that this is the original 
manuscript. It is true that glosses and interlineations do not im- 
pair primary validity, for the original fair copy may be deciphered 
underneath. Yet if the latter was not verbally changed by the 
compositor, and yet does not verbally agree with the first edition, it 
cannot be considered the printer's copy. But to examine the top- 
most of the two strata. As it stands, the manuscript agrees with 
neither of the first three editions in spelling, punctuation or capi- 
talizing. Of three passages, selected at random, the verbal agree- 
ments are more numerous with the second edition, while there is 
little resemblance to the first. Nevertheless, the underlying text, 
without the superimposed corrections bears a striking likeness to 
the original, notably in such archaisms as the use of which for who, 
and of saith for said. Thus page 373 has who substituted for 
which twelve times. Also page 19 contains a phrase that appears 
only in the first edition : (Fair copy) * Eternal God & Jesus Christ 
which is ' ; (corrected copy) * Eternal God & Mosiah who is * ; 
(first edition) < Eternal God, and Jesus Christ which is ' ; (second 
edition) * Eternal God, and the Messiah who is ' ; (third edition) 
« Eternal God, and the Messiah who is.' 

To sum up thus far: the corrected copy is secondary, being 
mainly revamped after the model of later editions, but the fair 
copy is a close approach to the earliest printed edition. 



102 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Mormon, from a close scrutiny of spelling, punctu- 
ation, capitalizing and phrasing, it is fair to conclude 
that this is a complete contemporary copy trans- 
cribed from the original. There may be taken in 
evidence of this the famous anti-polygamy passage 
reproduced on the opposite page.®^ 

But to return to the original proposition,®^ these 
characteristic textual erasures and scribal repetitions 
lead one to the conclusion that this is the veritable 
duplicate copy hurriedly transcribed by Oliver 
Cov^dery, betv^een the copyright in June, 1829, and 
the completion of the printing early in 1830.^ In 
final proof of this is the notew^orthy circumstance 
that the author's impossible preface, suppressed 
after the first edition, is here presented with all its 
blemishes and blunders. For literary purposes, 
then, this Cowdery copy is of extreme importance. 
In all probability, this is a literal transcript of the 
only part of the Book of Mormon where Joseph 
Smith set his pen to paper. Cowdery was a dis- 
trict schoolmaster,^ and his spelling and spacing 

*i From a photographic reproduction of page 97 of the Cowdery 
copy, in the possession of Mr. W. E. Benjamin. 

62 For an obvious case of repetition compare page 73, containing 
a quotation from Isaiah 7:5,6: (Fair copy) < because Syria, 
Ephraim, & the Son of Remaliah ; because have taken evil coun- 
sel'; (corrected copy) 'because Syria, Ephraim & the Son of 
Remaliah, have taken evil counsel.' 

63 < Biographical Sketches,' p. 143, says : * Oliver Cowdery com- 
menced the work immediately after Joseph left ' — which was soon 
after the copyright was secured. 

6*< Biographical Sketches,' p. 128. 



J^^ 



's' 












Mlvl'^15^''' 



III 1 ^f 



1^ 




vi' # ^. 



THE BOOK OF MORMON 103 

only occasionally suffer a relapse, but this preface ^^ 
agrees with the prophet's confession of youthful 
illiteracy.^ 

PREFACE.^^ 
To THE Reader — 

As many fals reports have been sirculated 
respecting this the following work & also many 
unla I wful measures taken by evil desineing 
persons to destroy me & also the work I 
would I inform you that I translated by the 
gift & power of God & caused to be written 
one I hundred and sixteen pages the which I 
took from the Book of Lehi which was an 
ace I ount abridged from the plates of Lehi by 
the hand of Mormon which said account | 

"The words in italics were in the fair copy and have been 
crossed out in the corrected copy. 

66 'Times and Seasons/ 3, 771. 

67 The printed preface of the first edition avoids all the errors in 
the above. The episode referred to was the loss of 116 pages of 
manuscript through Joseph's first scribe, Martin Harris. It is also 
recounted at greater length, in what was probably the first tedious 
draft out of Joseph's head. The first fifteenth of it reads as fol- 
lows : — * A Revelation given to Joseph in Harmony, Pennsylvania, 
May, 1829, informing him of the alteration of the manuscript of 
the forepart of the " Book of Mormon." 

Behold, they have sought to destroy you ; yea, even the man in 
whom you have trusted. 

And for this cause I said that he is a wicked man, for he has 
sought to take away the things wherewith you have been en- 
trusted ; and he has also sought to destroy your gift. 

And because you have delivered the writings into his hands, be- 
hold, they have taken them from you : 

Therefore, you have delivered them up ; yea, that which was 
sacred unto wickedness. 

And, behold, Satan has put it into their hearts to alter the words 
which you have caused to be written, or which you have translated, 
which have gone out of your hands.' * Book of Commandments,' 
Chapter IX. 



104 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

some person or persons have stolen & kept from 
me not withstanding my utmost exer | sion to 
recover it again & being commanded of the 
Lord that I should not translate | the same 
over again for Satan had put it into their hearts 
to tempt the Lord their God | by altering the 
words that they did not read conterary from 
that which I translated & | caused to be writ- 
ten & if I should bring forth the same words 
again or in other words if I | should translate 
the same over again they would publish that 
which they had stolen & | Satan would stir up 
the hearts of this generation that they might 
not receive this work | but behold the Lord 
said unto me I will not suffer that Satan shall 
accomplish | his evil design in this thing there- 
fore thou shalt translate from the plates of 
Nephi I untill you ye come to that which ye 
have translated which ye have retained & | 
behold ye shall publish it as the record of 
Nephi & thus I will confound those which | 
have altered my words I will not suffer that 
they shall destroy my work yea I | will shew 
unto them that my wisdom is greater then the 
cunning of the Devil | wherefore to be obe- 
diant unto the commandments of God I have 
through his grace | and mercy accomplished 
that which he hath commanded me respecting 
this thing | I would also inform you that the 
plates of which hath been spoken were was 
found in | the township of Manchester Ontario 
County New York 

The Author. 



CHAPTER IV 
THE BOOK OF MORMON: THE SOURCES 



CHAPTER IV 

THE BOOK OF MORMON: THE SOURCES 

The Booh of Mormon^ is about one-third the size 
of the Bible. It purports to be ' the Sacred History 
of Ancient America from the Earliest Ages after the 
Flood to the Beginnings of the Fifth Century of the 
Christian Era.' The author's aim was to invent a 

1 The quotations are here taken from a copy of the first edition 
bearing the signature of Brigham Young. For convenience the 
paging is given as in the third edition, 1891, Salt Lake City, 'with 
division into chapters and verses, with references, by Orson Pratt, 
senior.* » , 

«0. Pratt, 'Remarkable Visions,' 1841 : 'The Lamanites [In- 
dians] originally were a remnant of Joseph, and in the first year of 
the reign of Zedekiah, King-of Judah, were led in a miraculous man- 
ner from Jerusalem to the eastern borders of the Red Sea, thence 
for some time along its borders in a nearly southeast direction, after 
which they altered their course nearly eastward, until they came to 
the great waters, where by the command of God they built a ves- 
sel in which they were safely brought across the great Pacific 
Ocean, and landed upon the western coast of South America. The 
original party included also the Nephites, their leader being a 
prophet called Nephi ; but soon after landing they separated, be- 
cause the Lamanites, whose leader was a wicked man called La- 
man, persecuted the others. After the partition the Nephites, who 
had brought with them the Old Testament down to the time of Jere- 
miah, engraved on plates of brass, in the Egyptian language, pros- 

107 



io8 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

series of fictitious writers, on whom to father all his 
own compositions. The names of these worthies 
range from Jarom to Mormon, from Nephi to Zeniflf. 
Their works have been thus summarized by the 
prophet himself:' 

<We are informed by these records, that 
America, in ancient times, has been inhabited 
by two distinct races of people. The first were 
called Jaredites, and came directly from the 
tower of Babel. The second race came directly 
from the city of Jerusalem, about six hundred 
years before Christ. They were principally Is- 
raelites, of the descendants of Joseph. The Jare- 
dites were destroyed, about the time that the 
Israelites came from Jerusalem, who succeeded 
them in the inheritance of the country. The 
principal nation of the second race fell in battle 
towards the close of the fourth century. The 
remnant are the Indians^ who now inhabit this 
country. This book also tells us that our Saviour 

pered and built large cities. But the bold, bad I^amanites, origi- 
nally white, became dark and dirty, though still retaining a na- 
tional existence. They became wild, savage, and ferocious, seek- 
ing by every means the destruction of the prosperous Nephites, 
against whom they many times arrayed their hosts in battle ; but 
were repulsed and driven back to their own territories, generally 
with great loss to both sides. The slain, frequently amounting to 
tens of thousands, were piled together in great heaps and over- 
spread with a thin covering of earth, which will satisfactorily ac- 
count for those ancient mounds filled with human bones, so numer- 
ous at the present day, both in North and South America.* 
' Rupp, p. 406. 



THE SOURCES 109 

made His appearance upon this continent after 
His resurrection ; that He planted the gospel 
here in all its fulness and richness, and power, 
and blessing ; that they had apostles, prophets, 
pastors, teachers, and evangelists; the same 
order, the same priesthood, the same ordinances, 
gifts, powers, and blessing, as was enjoyed on 
the Eastern continent; that the people were 
cut off in consequence of their transgressions ; 
that the last of their prophets who existed among 
them was commanded to write an abridgment of 
their prophecies, history, etc., and to hide it up 
in the earth, and that it should come forth and 
be united with the Bible, for the accomplishment 
of the purposes of God in the last days.' * 

In the second and subsequent editions it is stated 
that the book was * translated by Joseph Smith, jun- 

* Compare American Law Review^ 34, 219-221, * The Law of the 
Book of Mormon.' * There are five periods : (i) a kingdom, (2) a 
republic under judges, (3) anarchy, (4) Messianic dispensation, 
(5) second anarchy. 

It bears traces of the hand of a citizen of the United States. 
There was no privileged class. Slavery was unknown. The king 
or judge had no council or parliament. Salaried judges were 
elected for life or during good behavior, the election being proba- 
bly vivd voce by acclamation. They had to take an oath of office, 
and to judge according to the Mosaic decalogue, which was adopted 
en bloc. No jury was used. A writ of false judgment lay to a kind 
of Court of Delegates. . . . The people had a right of peti- 
tion. Death was inflicted only for murder and treason. A debtor 
was arrested and taken before a judge. The law of contract and 
succession was quite undeveloped. Three witnesses were gen- 
erally required. . . . Sorcery, witchcraft, and magic were 
among the crimes rife in the land.* 



no THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

ior,' but on the title page of the first edition is an 
important variation,— Joseph Smith was not the 
translator but the author:— 



' The Book of Mormon : an account written by The 
Hand of Mormon, upon plates taken from the plates of 
Nephi. Wherefore it is an abridgment of the record of 
the people of Nephi ; and also of the Lamanites, who 
are a remnant of the House of Israel ; and also to Jew 
and Gentile ; written by way of commandment, and also 
by the spirit of Prophecy and of Revelation. Written, 
and sealed up, and hid up unto the Lord, that they might 
not be destroyed ; to come forth by the gift and power 
of God unto the interpretation thereof; sealed by the 
hand of Moroni, and hid up unto the Lord, to come 
forth in due time by the way of Gentile ; the interpreta- 
tion thereof by the gift of God. An abridgment taken 
from the Book of Ether. Also, which is a Record of the 
people of Jared ; which were scattered at the time the 
Lord confounded the language of the people when they 
were building a tower to get to Heaven ; which is to shew 
unto the remnant of the House of Israel how great things 
the Lord hath done for their fathers ; and that they may 
know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast 
off forever ; and also to the convincing of the Jew and 
Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, mani- 
festing Himself unto all nations. And now if there be 
fault, it be the mistake of men ; wherefore condemn not 
the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the 
judgment-seat of Christ. By Joseph Smith, junior, Au- 
thor and Proprietor, Palmyra. (Printed by E. B. Grandin, 
for the author, 1830.) * 



THE SOURCES in 

This inadvertent admission of authorship is in- 
valuable. Being reiterated and gratuitous, it points 
to the authenticity of the book; hence an analysis 
of its contents will serve as an analysis of the 
prophet's mind, an intimate means of judging his 
early mental ability. Yet a mere repetition of the 
story* is not so illuminating as a study of the 
sources. How did the young writer come by these 
curious notions about Old Testament history, the 
lost ten tribes, ancient America and the like ? The 
elements of the environment provide a satisfactory 
answer, — ^Joseph's life in the backwoods, the books 
he read, the education he received, the sermons he 
heard, — these, and all the rest of his experiences, 
furnished the matter for this * account of the abo- 
rigines of America.' Thus the dedication to the 
Lamanites or Indians may be laid to the author's 
situation in the heart of the Iroquois country, just 
when Fenimore Cooper was evolving his Leather- 
Stocking Tales.^ The manner of writing likewise 
reflected the times, — it took the easy form of scrip- 
tural paraphrase much like the current parody of 
the Boston Tea Party entitled The First Book of the 
American Chronicled 

5 For contents of the * Book of Mormon,* see Appendix I. 

6 The Spy appeared in 1822; The Pioneer m 1823; The Last of 
the Mohicans in 1826. 

' Moses Coit Tyler, < The Literary History of the American Revo- 
lution,' New York, 1897, '• 257. Compare also a Mormon parody 



112 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

But to take up in order the links between the 
volume and the surroundings. The atmosphere 
being oversaturated with religion, its borrowings 
were necessarily biblical. Most obvious are lengthy 
excerpts from the King James' version: than which 
'the sense is materially better and clearer, in 
the texts from the Book of Mormon^ says the 
apologist. Yet the Ten Commandments and the 
Sermon on the Mount are given in their entirety, 
and eleven chapters of Isaiah are * taken by Nephi 
from the brass plates ; ® while the whole work is a 
mosaic of Old Testament allusions and New Testa- 
ment proof-texts.^ In addition to these verbal quo- 
tations, there are elaborate adaptations: — a long 
imitation of the chapter in Hebrews on faith, new 
variations in the woes against the Pharisees, and 
twenty-six pages of the suppositious sayings and 
doings of the Lord in his advent to America.'" 
There are finally numerous transformations of 
canonical matter; for example, the parable of the 
dying olive-tree is grafted on the metaphor of the 

of Psalm lii. * To the Chief Musician, Maschil, a Psalm for Joseph 
when Boggs the Edomite came and told Carlin, and said unto him, 
Joseph is come to the city of Nauvoo.' * Times and Seasons,* 2, 464. 

8 < Book of Mormon,' footnote, p. 87. 

Hyde, p. 233. Counts 298 New Testament quotations in 426 
pages of the first edition. 

10 < Book of Mormon,' pp. 119, 597-9. It should be noted that 
interpolations and variations are acknowledged by the Mormons, 
e,g.t * this sentence not in the present versions of the Bible.' 



THE SOURCES 113 

wild olive-tree and the whole, with its ramifications, 
spreads over nine pages. These quotations, vari- 
ations and expansions are a considerable block to be 
subtracted from the original mass." 

The method of manufacture is further revealed by 
the discovery that, in many parts, the Book of Mor- 
mon is nothing but a thinly veiled autobiography. 
As The Pilgrim's Progress contained hints of Bun- 
yan's life,^^ so in this unwitting allegory the thread 
of fact frequently comes to the surface. How 
completely this line of actuality runs through the 
book will be seen only at the conclusion of the an- 
alysis. Yet the opening verse furnishes the clue: 
the name of the prophet is Nephi, but the acts are 
the acts of Joseph:— 'I, Nephi, having been born 
of goodly parents, therefore I was taught some- 
what in all the learning of my fathers; and having 
seen many afflictions in the course of my days — 
nevertheless, having been highly favored of the 
Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great 
knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of 
God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings 
in my days.' 

"Kidder, p. 291, estimates one-eighteenth of the whole to be 
borrowed from the Bible, viz. : Isa. 2, 14, 18, 19, 21,48, 49, 50, 51, 
52, 54 ; Mai. 3 ; Matt. 5, 6, 7 ; I Cor. 13. 

1'^ Compare edition of 187 1, p. 186: — ' Now Reader, I have told 
my Dream to thee ; see if thou canst interpret it to me. . . , Put 
by the Curtains, look within my Vail ; turn up my Metaphors/ etc. 



114 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 



An assurance that Nephi is Joseph, junior, is 
found in the coincidence that the dream of his 
father Lehi, is none other than the dream of 
Joseph, senior. The account in the Booh of 
Mormon is inflated with scriptural phrases, but the 
ideas — with but trifling exceptions — are the same 
throughout.'^ 



^3 [ * Book of Mormon,' pp. 
15, 16. The dream of Lehi.] 

* Behold, I have dreamed a 
dream ; or, in other words, I 
have seen a vision. . . . For 
behold, me thought I saw a 
dark and dreary wilderness. 
And it came to pass that I saw 
a man, and he was dressed in a 
white robe ; and he came and 
stood before me. And it came 
to pass that he spake unto me, 
and bade me follow him. 
And it came to pass that as I 
followed him, I beheld myself 
that I was in a dark and dreary 
waste. And after I had traveled 
for the space of many hours in 
the darkness, I began to pray 
unto the Lord, that He would 
have mercy on me, according 
to the multitude of His tender 
mercies. And it came to pass 
after that I had prayed unto the 
Lord, I beheld a large and 
spacious field. And it came to 
pass that I beheld a tree, whose 
fruit was desirable to make one 



[ * Biographical Sketches,* pp. 
58» 59* Joseph Smith, senior's 
vision of 181 1.] 

* I thought I was traveling in 
an open, desolate field, which 
appeared to be very barren. As 
I was thus traveling, the thought 
suddenly came into my mind 
that I had better stop and re- 
flect upon what I was doing, 
before I went any further. So 
I asked myself, " What motive 
can I have in traveling here, 
and what place can this be ? " 
My guide who was by my side, 
as before, said, «*This is the 
desolate world; but travel on." 
The road was so broad and bar- 
ren, that I wondered why I 
should travel in it ; for, said I to 
myself, " Broad is the road, and 
wide is the gate that leads to 
death, and many there be that 
walk therein ; but narrow is the 
way, and straight is the gate, 
that leads to everlasting life, 
and few there be that go in 
thereat." Traveling a short dis- 



THE SOURCES 



115 



This quotation implies and reverts to ancestry; 
even more does it disclose environment. Its poverty 
of style at once evinces the scanty education within 



happy. And it came to pass 
that I did go forth, and partake 
of the fruit thereof; and I be- 
held that it was most sweet, 
above all that I ever before 
tasted. Yea, and I beheld 
that the fruit thereof was white, 
to exceed all the whiteness that 
I had ever seen. And as I 
partook of the fruit thereof, it 
filled my soul with exceeding 
great joy; wherefore, I began 
to be desirous that my family 
should partake of it also ; for I 
knew that it was desirable 
above all other fruit. And as I 
cast my eyes round about, that 
perhaps I might discover my 
family also, [I] beheld a river 
of water ; and it ran along, and 
it was near the tree of which I 
was partaking the fruit. And I 
looked to behold from whence 
it came; and I saw the head 
thereof a little way off; and at 
the head thereof, I beheld your 
mother Sariah, and Sam, and 
Nephi ; and they stood as if they 
knew not whither they should 
go. And it came to pass that I 
beckoned unto them ; and I also 
did say unto them, with a loud 
voice, that they should come 



tance further, I came to a nar- 
row path. This path I entered, 
and, when I had traveled a 
little way in it, I beheld a 
beautiful stream of water, which 
ran from the east to the west. 
Of this stream I could see 
neither the source nor yet the 
termination; but as far as my 
eyes could extend I could see 
a rope, running along the bank 
of it, about as high as a man 
could reach, and beyond me, 
was a low, but very pleasant 
valley, in which stood a tree, 
such as I had never seen before. 
It was exceedingly handsome, 
insomuch that I looked upon it 
with wonder and admiration. 
Its beautiful branches spread 
themselves somewhat like an 
umbrella, and it bore a kind of 
fruit, in shape much like a chest- 
nut burr, and as white as snow, 
or, if possible, whiter. I gazed 
upon the same with consider- 
able interest, and as I was 
doing so, the burrs or shells 
commenced opening and shed- 
ding their particles, or the fruit 
which they contained, which 
was of dazzling whiteness. I 
drew near and began to eat of 



ii6 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

reach of the boy. With the disappearance of the 
original manuscripts there is no way of judging the 
sum total of grammatical errors : their quantity may 



unto me, and partake of the 
fruit, which was desirable above 
all other fruit. And it came to 
pass that they did come unto 
me, and partake of the fruit 
also. And it came to pass that 
I was desirous that Laman and 
Lemuel should come and par- 
take of the fruit also; where- 
fore, I cast mine eyes towards 
the head of the river, that per- 
haps I might see them. And 
it came to pass that I saw them, 
but they would not come unto 
me. And I beheld a rod of 
iron ; and it extended along the 
bank of the river, and led to 
the tree by which I stood. And 
I also beheld a straight and 
narrow path, which came along 
by the rod of iron, even to the 
tree by which I stood; and it 
also led by the head of the 
fountain, unto a large and 
spacious field, as if it had been 
a world ; and I saw numberless 
concourses of people ; many of 
whom were pressing forward, 
that they might obtain the path 
which led unto the tree by 
which I stood. And it came to 
pass that they did come forth, 
and commence in the path 



it, and I found it delicious be- 
yond description. As I was 
eating, I said in my heart, 
" I cannot eat this alone, I 
must bring my wife and chil- 
dren, that they may partake 
with me." Accordingly, I went 
and brought my family, which 
consisted of a wife and seven 
children, and we all commenced 
eating, and praising God for this 
blessing. We were exceedingly 
happy, insomuch that our joy 
could not easily be expressed. 
While thus engaged, I beheld a 
spacious building standing op- 
posite the valley which we were 
in, and it appeared to reach to 
the very heavens. It was full 
of doors and windows, and they 
were all filled with people, who 
were very finely dressed. When 
these people observed us in the 
low valley, under the tree, they 
pointed the finger of scorn at 
us, and treated us with all man- 
ner of disrespect and contempt. 
But their contumely we utterly 
disregarded. I presently turned 
to my guide, and inquired of 
him the meaning of the fruit 
that was so delicious. He told 
me it was the pure love of God, 



THE SOURCES 



117 



yet be inferred from the rhetorical quality of the 
present editions. 



which led to the tree. And it 
came to pass that there arose a 
mist of darkness ; yea, even an 
exceeding great mist of dark- 
ness, insomuch that they who 
had commenced in the path, 
did lose their way, that they 
wandered off and were lost. 
And it came to pass that I be- 
held others pressing forward; 
and they came forth and caught 
hold of the end of the rod of iron ; 
and they did press forward 
through the mist of darkness, 
clinging to the rod of iron, even 
until they did come forth and 
partake of the fruit of the tree. 
And after they had partaken of 
the fruit of the tree, they did cast 
their eyes about as if they were 
ashamed. And I also did cast 
my eyes round about, and be- 
held, on the other side of the 
river of water, a great and 
spacious building ; and it stood 
as it were in the air, high above 
the earth ; and it was filled 
with people, both old and 
young, both male and female; 
and their manner of dress was 
exceeding fine ; and they were 
in the attitude of mocking and 
pointing their finger towards 
those who had come at, and 
were partaking of the fruit.* 



shed abroad in the hearts of all 
those that love Him, and keep 
His commandments. He then 
commanded me to go and bring 
the rest of my children. I told 
him that we were all there. 
** No," he replied, " look yonder, 
you have two more, and you 
must bring them also." Upon 
raising my eyes, I saw two 
small children, standing some 
distance off. I immediately 
went to them, and brought 
them to the tree ; upon which 
they commenced eating with 
the rest, and we all rejoiced to- 
gether. The more we eat, the 
more we seemed to desire, until 
we even got down upon our 
knees, and scooped it up, eating 
it by double handfuls. After 
feasting in this manner a short 
time, I asked my guide what 
was the meaning of the spacious 
building that I saw. He re- 
plied, "It is Babylon, it is 
Babylon, and it must fall. The 
people in the doors and windows 
are the inhabitants thereof, who 
scorn and despise the Saints of 
God, because of their humility." 
I soon awoke, clapping my hands 
together for joy.' 



Ii8 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Barbarisms and solecisms abound, due to what 
Smith called his ' lack of fluency according to the 
literati,* Over and above these are unique ex- 
pressions, which well deserve the name of * Smith- 
isms.' Thus:-— 'Nephi did molten ore out of the 
rock, that he might engraven upon them the record 
of the more history part.' The author's meagre 
schooling is not indicated so much by these verbal 
peculiarities, as by the lack of ideas derived from 
primary education. There are some references to 
geography and history, but the former is made so 
indefinite and the latter so obscure, that much eluci- 
dation is called for. Lest the profane read with one 
eye shut, the Saints have provided annotations. 
Take for example Nephi's vision of the future, and 
Moroni's prayer for the land : — 

' And it came to pass that I looked and beheld many 
waters (the Atlantic Ocean) ; and they divided the Gen- 
tiles from the seed of my brethren. And I looked and 
beheld a man among the Gentiles (Columbus), which 
was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many 
waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came 
down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth 
upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my breth- 
ren, which were in the promised land. And it came to 
pass that I beheld the Spirit of God, that it wrought upon 
other Gentiles (the Pilgrim fathers) ; and they went 
forth out of captivity, upon the many waters. And it 
came to pass that I beheld many multitudes of the Gent- 



THE SOURCES 119 

iles upon the land of promise ; and I beheld the wrath 
of God, that it was upon the seed of my brethren (the 
Indians) ; and they were scattered before the Gentiles, 
and were smitten. And I beheld the Spirit of the Lord, 
that it was upon the Gentiles ; that they did prosper, and 
obtain the land of their inheritance. . . . And it 
came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who 
had gone forth out of captivity, did humble themselves 
before the Lord ; and the power of the Lord was with 
them. And I beheld that their mother Gentiles (the 
British) was gathered together upon the waters, and upon 
the land also, to battle against them. And I beheld that 
the power of God was with them ; and also that the wrath 
of God was upon them, that were gathered together 
against them to battle. And I, Nephi, beheld that the 
Gentiles that had gone out of captivity (the United 
States), were delivered by the power of God, out of the 
hands of all other nations. . . . 

And the prophet Moroni prayed that the cause of the 
Christians, and the freedom of the land might be favored. 
And it came to pass that when he had poured out his 
soul to God, he gave all the land both on the north 
and on the south, a chosen land, and the land of 
liberty. Nevertheless they were not fighting for mon- 
archy nor power, but they were fighting for their 
homes and their liberties ; yea for their rites of 
worship and their church. Therefore for this cause 
were the Nephites contending with the Lamanites (In- 
dians), to defend themselves, and their families, and 
their lands, their country, and their rights, and their re- 
ligion. And thus it did come to pass that the people of 
Nephi began to multiply and spread, even until they did 
cover the whole face of the land, from the sea west to the 



120 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

sea east. And the Lamanites did give unto us the land 
northward (North America) ; yea even to the narrow 
passage which led into the land southward (South 
America.* " 

All this was written by a youth who was not 
much 'inclined to the study of books.' But if the 
sphere of knowledge was small, — by a sort of imagi- 
native aeration, it swelled to a large bulk. Joseph's 
wits were early at work; three years before the 
gold plates were delivered, his mother said, ' During 
our evening conversations, Joseph would occasion- 
ally give us some of the most amusing recitals that 
could be imagined. He would describe the ancient 
inhabitants of this country, their dress, mode of 
traveling, and the animals upon which they rode; 
their cities, their buildings, with every particular; 
their mode of warfare and also their religious worship. 
This he would do with as much ease, seemingly, as 
if he had spent his whole Hfe with them.' '' 

The boy's inventions naturally reappeared in his 
book. As those that ' went forth out of captivity ' 
were the Pilgrim fathers seen through a haze of 
tradition, so the Lamanites were the Indians of 
yesterday, with an air of mysterious antiquity 
thrown about them. The novehst in an adjoining 

1* Compiled from * Book of Mormon,' pp. 26-29, 370, 371, 363, 
460, 552. 

16 4 Biographical Sketches/ p. 85. 



THE SOURCES 121 

county succeeded in idealizing the last of the Mohi- 
cans. The inexperienced youngster failed to make 
him anything but the ignoble red man. Here is the 
composite portrait: — In appearance, the Lamanites 
'were a dark, loathsome, filthy and idle people, 
they wore a girdle about their loins, their heads 
were shaven, they had marked themselves with red 
in their foreheads/ As to their habits, 'they dwelt 
intents; seeking in the wilderness for beasts of 
prey; at night they did rend the air with their cries 
and howlings and their mournings for the loss of 
the slain/ In war ' they carried the bow, the cimiter 
and the axe, they smote off the scalp of their ene- 
mies; they took many prisoners and tortured 
them/^' 

And these were ' the seed of Abraham, remnants 
of the house of Israel.' The Book of Mormon is in- 
deed the ' record of a fallen people ' ; the degenera- 
tion is so complete that, when, in the parable, this 
branch of the wild olive-tree is said to be ' of no 
worth,' the commentator hastens to refer this to the 
present condition of the Indians. " But the annota- 
tion does not agree with the text; these same 
Lamanites were those who left behind 'bones as 
heaps, and works of timbers upon the top of the 

^« ' Book of Mormon,' pp. 25, 15 1, 240, 302, 366, 607. Compare 
* Times and Seasons,' 2, 474, Poem on the Red Man. 
IT i Book of Mormon,' p. 142. 



122 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

ridges of earth, or in other words,— the ancient 
mounds of North America.' '® 

The Mormons were hard pressed to explain why 
the Indians had lost their theological traditions, ^^ so 
they laid great stress on their material remains. 
Yet here is manifest if at all, the influence of 
Joseph's surroundings. He lived in a country full 
of mysterious aboriginal monuments. '^ Along the 
shores of Lake Ontario there was a series of ancient 
earthworks, entrenched hills and occasional mounds 
or tumuli. These works spread over the lands of 
the Holland Land Company,*' where Joseph, senior, 
had taken up his claim. At Canandaigua, only nine 
miles away, there was an embankment on a hill, 
where human bones and relics were found. At 
Livonia,*' in adjacent Livingstone County, there was 
an artificial embankment and ditch inclosing an area 
of sixteen acres. The other way, in Seneca County, 



18 1 Book of Mormon,' p. 595, and footnote, 383. 
»9 * Times and Seasons,' 2, 473. 

20 The following facts, unless otherwise specified, are taken from 
E. G. Squier, « The Aboriginal Monuments of New York State,* 
1 85 1, being Vol. II of the « Smithsonian Contributions to Knowl- 
edge.' 

21 H. O'Reilly, « Sketches of Rochester,' 1838, p. 377. 

22 Canandaigua and Livonia are mentioned in * Biographical 
Sketches,' pp. 96 and 135. The distances in Joseph's time can 
only be approximated as the roads were few. The principal re- 
mains here mentioned can nowadays be reached from Manchester 
in a day's tramp. 



THE SOURCES 123 

there were ancient caches full of art relics and frag- 
ments of pottery. But there were more notable re- 
mains nearer home; if not within walking distance, 
at least within the circle of rumor. Just east of 
Geneva was a so-called Indian Castle; here stumps 
of the palisades were struck by the plough, when 
the land was first cultivated, and the holes formed 
by the decay of the pickets were still visible in 1847. 
Finally, in the vicinity of Manchester, enough 
hatchets and spear heads were dug up to supply 
the local blacksmiths with iron. Now popular 
opinion regarded the origin of these remains as 
buried in antiquity. Governor De Witt Clinton, in 
his pamphlet of 181 1," dubbed these mound-build- 
ers 'the Romans of the Western World.* Examin- 
ing the three works near Canandaigua and counting 
the rings in the trees growing upon them, he esti- 
mated that they were one thousand years old; 
hence not the work of present Indians, nor of 
European explorers. Other writers held views 
more positive, if less probable; these were the re- 
mains of Phoenician and Scandanavian colonists, — 
of the apocryphal Madoc with his ten ships. 

But the theory of Hebraic origin was the favorite. 
It began with the very discovery of America, con- 
tinued through Puritan times and was rife in these 

23 De Witt Clinton, * Discourse,* published in 18 11, not 1 8 18 as 
O'Reilly states. 



124 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

parts when Joseph was growing up. There is an 
abundant literature on the subject. The early Span- 
ish priests identified the native Americans with the 
lost ten tribes of Israel; in 1650 a Jewish Rabbi 
advocated it;'* the same year appeared Thorow- 
good's 'Jews in America, or Probabilites that the 
Americans are of that Race;' two years after, 
John Eliot, apostle to the Indians, wrote an essay to 
the same effect. Since the conversion of the abo- 
rigines was one of the aims in settling New Eng- 
land and was enjoined also in the charters of 
other colonies, ^^ both New England divines and 
founders of states welcomed these speculations. 
The line of belief persisted through Mayhew 
Mather, Roger Williams, William Penn, Jonathan 
Edwards down to Elias Boudinot's work in 1816, en- 
titled A star in the West, or an attempt to discover 
the lost Ten Tribes of Israel.'''' 

Interest in these theories was wide; as was said 
by Ethan Smith in his * View of the Hebrews or 
the Tribes of Israel in America,"''' — the import- 
ance of the question 'Where are the ten tribes 

'<< Jewish Encyclopedia,' 1900, i, 495. Manasseh ben Israel in 
his < Hope of Israel,' considered that the Dispersion was thereby 
complete. 

25 Ethan Smith, < View of the Hebrews,' 1825, p. 248, note. 

26 Justin Windsor, « Narrative and Critical History of America/ 
1889, I. 115, 116. 

«7 Ethan Smith, Preface, p. i. 



THE SOURCES 125 

of Israel/ brought about a speedy sale of the first 
edition. This work was published in Poultney, 
Vermont, next to Windsor County, where Joseph's 
parents once lived, and by 1825 had circulated to 
westernmost New York. A letter to the author, 
from a clerical reader in Erie County, mentions 
a general religious revival which had taken place 
among the Senecas seven years before. Dis- 
satisfied with their old rites they had brought 
together their wise men, who say they are per- 
suaded they are the people of God, but have lost 
their way. Hence, this observer concludes, these 
Indians are the outcasts of Israel, for they have a 
manifest shadow of the Mosaic rituals, — the feasts 
of first-fruits, and of ingathering; a day of atone- 
ment, and peace offerings. ^^ The author's cumula- 
tive proof, derived from the accounts of travelers, 
is this:^ the Indians must be the lost tribes of 
Israel because they have one origin ; their language 
appears Hebrew;^ they have acknowledged one 
and only one God; they are in tribes; they have 

28 Ethan Smith, p. vi, Extract from letter to the author from J. 
B. Hyde. On the other hand, the Indians sometimes resented the 
propaganda. Compare the * Speech of Red Jacket against the 
Foundation of a Mission among the Senecas in 1805,* in Stedman 
and Hutchinson, * A History of American Literature,* 1890, 4. 36. 

29 Ethan Smith, p. 85. 

30 H. H. Bancroft, * Works,' 5, 89, quotes Meyer's statement * The 
name Iowa is derived from Jehova.' 



126 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

cities of refuge; they have sacrifices and anointings, 
high-priests, festivals, feasts and purifications. The 
compiler also quotes with approval Adair's twenty- 
three reasons for the Indians being Jews. " 

As has been already noted, a volume containing 
these arguments was in the possession of one 
young Mormon from New York. But if there was 
any book, akin to Joseph's fancy, it was one pub- 
lished in Albany about this time,^' namely,— Priest's 
American Antiquities. An Exhibition of the Evi- 
dence that an ancient population peopled America 
many centuries before its Discovery, and Inquiries 
into their Origin. The wording of this title should 
be compared with a portion of the Prophet's first 
vision; he says: 

I was informed also concerning the aboriginal inhab- 
itants of this country, and shown who they were, and 

31 Argument, i. Their division into tribes; 2. Worship of 
Jehovah ; 3. Notions of a theocracy ; 4. Belief in the ministrations 
of angels; 5. Language and dialects; 6. Manners of counting 
time; 7. Prophets and high priests; 8. Festivals, fasts and religious 
rites; 9. Daily sacrifices; 10. Ablutions and anointings; 11. 
Laws of uncleanness; 12. Abstinence from unclean things; 13. 
Marriages, divorces and punishments of adultery; 14. Several 
punishments; 15. Cities of refuge; 16. Purifications and cere- 
monies preparatory to war ; 17. Ornaments; 18. Manner of curing 
the sick: 19. Burial of the dead; 20. Mourning for their dead; 
21. Raising seed to a deceased brother; 22. Choice of names 
adapted to their circumstances and the times ; 23. Own traditions. 

"The first edition appeared in 1833; two others followed in that 
year. 



THE SOURCES 12; 

from whence they came ; — a brief sketch of their origin, 
progress, civilization, laws, governments, of their right- 
eousness and iniquity, and the blessings of God being 
finally withdrawn from them as a people, was made 
known unto me.* 

Moreover the contents of this book resembles 
that of the plates of Nephi. The chapter on the 
course of the lost ten tribes is suggestive of the 
wanderings of the Nephites. In 1841 the prophet, 
reviewing a volume of Mormon evidences, noted 
four parallel passages drawn between Priest's work 
and the Book of Mormon.^ The fact that the Mor- 
mon book was subsequently called in by Brigham 
Young, would excite a suspicion of Joseph's orig- 
inal plagiarism from Priest's American Antiquities, 
except that the latter appeared in 1833. However 
Smith frequently printed in his newspaper curious 
notices of the current works on American archaeology, 
and pointed with triumph to various 'ancient 
records,' as they were dug up from time to time.^ 

33* Times and Seasons,' 3,640; Priest, pp. 97, 160, 165, 169; 
* Book of Mormon,' (second edition) pp. 378, 382, 383, 479. Smith 
borrows these parallels from Charles Thompson's ' Evidences in 
proof of the " Book of Mormon," being a divinely inspired record, 
written by the forefathers of the natives whom we call Indians, 
(who are a remnant of the tribe of Joseph,' etc.), Batavia, N. Y. 
1841. 

34 Smith's interest in Americana is universal ; in Volume IV of 
the 'Times and Seasons,' he notices (p. 181) the six brass plates 
discovered at Kinderhook as giving authenticity to the * Book of 



128 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Whether or not the boy in the log cabin had a 
chance to read Priest's volume or any of the series, 
these judaizing theories were in the air, and were 
especially prevalent among the clergy.'^ Hence the 
source of Joseph's antiquarian fancies need not have 
been literary; what he heard from the pulpit was 
enough to set his fancy at work. In this western 
district the Society for Propagating the Gospel 
among the Indians was active,'^ and a certain mis- 
sionary to these lost branches was, at one time, in 
charge of the Presbyterian Church in Palmyra." 
Tradition also fired the young boy's brain. His 
Uncle Stephen had launched forth on the frontiers at 
Detroit as an Indian trader.^^ Moreover three of the 

Mormon*; (p. 201) he issues the 'Prospectus of the Nauvoo 
Museum, for ancient records, manuscripts, paintings and hiero- 
glyphics' ; (p. 346) he notes that Stephen's * Incidents of Travels in 
Central America ' has in two years gone through twelve editions. 
For the persistent Mormon interest in antiquities compare * Times 
and Seasons,' 2, 440; 5, 755 and S. T. Walker, < Ruins Revisited,' 
and also * Archaeological Committee Report,' for later search for 
evidences in support of the * Book of Mormon.' 

35 Compare the layman James Buchanan, * Sketches, etc., of the 
North American Indians,' New York, 1824, 2, 7: — < Affinities 
were discovered which existed nowhere but in the fancy of the in- 
ventor.' Compare also L' Estrange, 'Americans nojewes.* 

86 See ' Signs of the Times,' 18 10. 

3"^ Hotchkin. In 18 17 the pastor was D. S. Butrick, 'for many 
years a faithful missionary among the Cherokee Indians.' 

38* Biographical Sketches,' p. 31. Parley P. Pratt in 'The Voice 
of Warning,' 1854, Chapter iv, 'Origin of the American Indians,' 
quotes both Priest and Boudinot. 



THE SOURCES 129 

Green Mountain villages, in which his family once 
sojourned, had been destroyed by the savages not a 
generation before his birth ;^^ in New York the 
Cherry Valley massacre was still remembered,*® and 
in 1805 an itinerant Methodist said that *the shining 
tomahawk and the glittering scalping-knife were 
within sight/" These things lay back of the por- 
trayal of the Lamanites as * wicked, wild and fero- 
cious, — a people who delighted in murdering the 
Nephites and robbing and plundering them/*^ Be- 
sides local hearsay, the youth had his own eyes to 
give him information; around him lay the reserva- 
tions of the Six Nations containing, at this time, 
between three and four thousand warriors.*^ Nat- 
urally it was his own knowledge of the Iroquois that 
he transferred to the ancient inhabitants. 

Finally one of his occupations provided him with 
an excuse for mystification. He confesses, with 
some reluctance, that he was hired as a money 
digger.** Since Indian mounds were the favorite 

^'^ Vermont Gazeteer, pp. 977, 11 16. Tunbridge, Randolph and 
Royal ton were sacked and burned by the Indians in 1780 on their 
return to Canada. 

40 DeWitt Clinton, p. 377. 

41 H. Stevens, * History of American Methodism,' p. 451. 
42 « Book of Mormon,' pp. 284, 435. 

43 < United States Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs/ 
1853, p. 15. In 1846 there were 3,843 Iroquois in New York state. 

44 < Pearl of Great Price,' p. icx) ; ' Hence arose the very preva- 
lent story of my being a money digger.' This refers to the opera- 



130 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

haunts of money diggers/^ this search for hidden 
treasure furnishes the clue to Joseph's passion for 
the antique. He mixed up what he knew about 
living Indians, with what he could gather about the 
dead ones, and the amalgam was the angel Moroni's 
* brief sketch concerning the aboriginal inhabitants 
of this country/ The mixture of the two elements, 
present and past, is shown by the popular errors 
embedded in the narrative. The great number of 
skeletons in the burial mounds were not due to ter- 
rible massacres,*^ but to the Indian custom of col- 
lecting the bones of their dead at stated times.*^ So 
with the Indian * forts ' or 'castles,' described as the 
'high places of Israel.'*^ In 1615 Champlain cited 
those palisaded works.*^ They were not prehis- 
toric, but were taught to the natives by nameless 
adventurers from Europe. So the Iroquois body- 
coverings of thick hide, such as the Nephites wore, 
were an imitation of European armor.^^ And the 

tions of 1825. Joseph's father-in-law, Josiah Stoal, of Susquehanna 
County, Pa., hired Joseph to hunt for a lost Spanish silver mine 
with his seer stone or crystal. Compare Appendix III and < Bio- 
graphical Sketches,' p. 92. 

45 Squier, p. 41. 

46 « Book of Mormon,' p. 560. Such as when the slain between 
Nephites and Lamanites amounts to 230,000. 

4' Squier, p. 68. 

48 Ethan Smith, p. 201. 

49 Champlain, « Oeuvres,' Quebec, 1870, 5, 261,— * Fagon de guer- 
royer des Sauvages.* 

60 F. S. Dellenbaugh, * The North American Indians of Yester- 
day,' 1 90 1, p. 260. 



THE SOURCES 131 

numerous hatchets and arrow-heads in Joseph's 
fabulous Zarahemla, were to be found on the sites 
of Kenandaga and Seneca villages of the seven- 
teenth century/^ The explanation of scientific in- 
vestigators being unknown at that time, there was 
nothing to prevent the throwing of an air of 
primitive mystery around more or less historic 
facts. So in Joseph's lucubrations the mounds 
which the Indians regarded with great reverence, 
and of which they had lost the tradition," were 
built by Moroni as defenses of his people against 
the Lamanites; while the caches of arms were due 
to the penitent Lamanites burying their weapons 
rather than commit sin/' 

In the mental habits^attributed to his aborigines the 
author's inventive powers fail, and he unwittingly 
falls back on current thought. The religious ideas 
of the Lamanites were not archaic and pagan, but 
only what Joseph's contemporaries erroneously at- 
tributed to the natives. He said the Lamanites be- 
lieved in a great spirit; ^' a writer of the same dec- 
ade cites, among the manners and customs of the 
various Indian tribes, — their belief in a great 

^* Squier, p. 9. 

62 D. G. Brinton claimed that tradition among the Indians is un- 
trustworthy after three generations. Lectures at Yale University, 
1898. 

" * Book of Mormon,* pp. 383, 308. 

^* * Book of Mormon,* p. 287. 



132 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

spirit.^ The modern critic says that the primitive 
red man had no idea of a great spirit, and that the ob- 
servations of early w^riters were made upon savages 
who had been for generations in contact with the 
doctrines of Christianity/^ This interpretation of the 
religious opinions of the Indians, after preconceived 
ideas of the times, offers another point of contact 
between the Booh of Mormon and the author's sur- 
roundings. Like the Senecas, thirty miles away, 
who had lately performed the sacrifice of the white 
dog/^ Joseph's Lamanites * did worship idols/ And 
yet, at the same time, they held the various beliefs 
of local Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists. 

Strange as it may seem, the earliest tribes were 
Old School Presbyterians. If the speech of Nephi, 
to his brethren, be compared with the Westminster 
Standards, a close parallelism will be disclosed.^® 

55 J. D. Hunter, * Manners and Customs of the Various Indian 
Tribes,' 1823, p. 222. 

56 F. Parkman, «The Jesuits in North America,* 1896, p. Ixxiv. 
^i O'Reilley, p. 276. This had happened at Rochester within 

ten years. 

58[ <Book of Mormon,' p. 15. [* Confession of Faith,' chap- 

Nephi interprets the dream of ters 32 and 33, — « Of the state 

the tree and river :] * Doth this of Man after Death '; « Of the 

mean the final state of the soul Last Judgment ' :] 'After death 

after the death of the body ? the souls of the wicked are cast 

... It was a representation of into hell, where they remain in 

that awful hell, prepared for torments, reserved to the judg- 

the wicked, and the devil is the ment of the great day. In 

preparator of it. And the jus- which day all persons shall ap- 



THE SOURCES 



133 



In all this the authors borrowings were the easiest 
possible. Even if the rest of the family did not re- 
main good Presbyterians,^^ the Westminster Confes- 
sion was to be had in other ways; it appeared, 
for instance, in the frequent reprints of the New 
England Primer, so that as children thumbed 
its quaint pages, they sucked in Calvinism.^ But 
if the young prophet had once learned what 'man's 
chief end ' was, he did not continue to believe that 
Mn Adam's Fall we sinned all'; early in his book 
he began to drift towards Universalism, saying that 



tice of God did also divide the 
wicked from the righteous for- 
ever and ever. It was a repre- 
sentation of things both temporal 
and spiritual ; for the day should 
come that they must be judged 
of their works. Wherefore, 
they must be brought to stand 
before God, and, if their works 
be filthy, they cannot dwell in 
the Kingdom of God. Where- 
fore, the final state of the souls 
of men is to dwell in the King- 
dom of God, or to be cast out 
because of that justice of which 
I have spoken.' 

59 « Biographical Sketches,* p. 74. 

*o « The Assembly of Divines* Catechism * was to be found in the 
current reprints of the New England Primer. Compare edition 
of 1806. 



pear before the tribunal of 
Christ, to give an account of 
their thoughts, words and deeds, 
and to receive according to what 
they have done in the body, 
whether good or evil. The end 
of God's appointing this day is 
for the manifestation of His jus- 
tice. For then shall the right- 
eous go into everlasting life, but 
the wicked shall be cast into 
eternal torments.' 



134 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

'the way is prepared from the fall of man/ and 
that * salvation is free for all/®^ 

This marked transition in habits of thought is to be 
gathered from the elements of the reaction. The 
Booh of Mormon is said to present orthodox Trinitar- 
ianism ; the reverse is the truth : it is a hodge-podge 
of heterodoxy. How the author came by the variant 
doctrines is a pertinent question, for it shows his 
absolute dependence on his own times. Absurd 
attempts have been made to trace to the old world, 

61 By comparing the speech of Lehi with the * Confession,* chap- 
ters 3 and 17, there are presented some of the agreements and dis- 
agreements of the * Book of Mormon * with the five points of 
Calvinism : — Absolute predestination is implied in the phrase — 
* God*s eternal purposes,* but negatived in the explanation, — < God 
to bring about His eternal purposes in the end of man, gave unto 
man that he should act for himself/ Total Depravity is set forth in 
the sentence — * God shewed unto all men that they were lost, be- 
cause of the transgression of their parents * ; but this statement is 
limited by another, namely that — * men are instructed sufficiently 
that they know good from evil.* Of the remaining three points, 
none are here upheld : there is nothing about Irresistible Grace 
and its correlate, the Perseverance of the Saints, — * that God from 
His absolute sovereignty bringeth whom He will unto salvation, and 
that the elect can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state 
of grace.* Both these articles are contradicted by one Mormon sen- 
tence ; * men are free forever to act for themselves and not to be 
acted upon/ So is it with the fifth point — of Particular Redemp- 
tion, — * the appointment of the elect unto glory, and of the rest of 
mankind unto dishonor and wrath/ In contrast with this, there is 
a notable drift towards Universalism, — * the way is prepared from 
the fall of man, and salvation is free ; because of the intercession 
for all, all men come unto God.* 



THE SOURCES 135 

the peculiar tenets of the American sectary." It is 
true that towards the five points of Calvinism, he 
had an Arminian attitude, but Joseph Smith knew 
as little about Arminius as Arminius did about 
Joseph Smith. It was from the voice of the wilder- 
ness preacher that he obtained notions at variance 
with Presbyterian dogma. A document of the 
times gives a lively idea of local theologic Donny- 
brook fairs. In the Western Memorial of 1834, the 
Presbytery of Geneva was charged by the General 
Assembly with 'sixteen gross errors in doctrine.'^ 
In answer, it was said that these errors were ad- 
vanced and strenuously propagated in Western New 
York, but not by Presbyterians. One apologist 
adds,^ in defense, that the local churches, in good 
standing, still believed in original sin, infant dam- 

62 For the attempt of a German writer to resolve Mormonism 
into a conscious syncretism of Gnosticism, Mohammedanism, etc., 
see M. Busch, < Die Mormonen, Ihr Prophet, Ihr Staat und 
Ihr Glaube,' Leipsic, 1855, s. 158, seq. Contrast * Times and 
Seasons,' 2, 305, 'There is error in comparing the "Book of 
Mormon " to the " Koran " of Mahomet. Mahomet had not the ad- 
vantage of the Urim and Thummim, by which the ancients were 
constituted seers.' It was after Smith's death that it was said, 
* Nauvoo and Carthage will become the Mecca and Medina of the 
Mormon Prophet.* * Times and Seasons,' 5, 621. 

63 « Digest of the Acts and Deliverances,' 1861, p. 483. The 
General Assembly of 1837 adjudge that the four synods of Gene- 
see, Geneva, Utica and Western Reserve were * out of connection 
with the Presbyterian Church.' 

64 Hotchkin, p. 234. 



136 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

nation, and man's inability to obey the commands 
of God. Another writer " goes deeper, and gives 
reasons for the undermining of High Calvinism. 
At this time, he observes, there was a suspicion 
that Western New York was altogether unsound ; 
in the conflict between the old doctrines and the 
new metaphysics, dangerous errors came through 
the candidates sent out as home missionaries,^^ with 
the consequence that there was an alarming loose- 
ness among young preachers. 

Now all this had no small bearing on the mentality 
of the founder of Mormonism. The prophet of the 
backwoods was at an infinite remove from a 
thinker like Channing in his Moral Argument 
against Calvinism. ^'^ Yet the freer thought of the 
East had already reached these parts. It was to 
the ' New England influence ' that the Presbyterians 
hereabouts charged these ' dangerous errors.' ^^ Con- 
sidering the number of itinerants from the various 

65 E. H. Gillet, 'History of the Presbyterian Church in the 
United States of America,' 1864, 2, 452. 

66 By the Berkshire, Hampshire, Connecticut and other societies. 
For complete list see J. H. Dill, * Congregationalism in Western 
New York; Its Rise, Decline and Revival,' 1858, p. 10. 

6T John Nichol, « American Literature,' 1882, p. 132 ff: — * New 
England Rationalism.' 

68Gillett, 2, 452, cites the various overtures and deliverances. 
Drs. Taylor and Dwight were counted as * dangerous ' but Dr. 
Samuel Hopkins was held chiefly responsible for the fact that 
* within the bounds of the Presbyterian Church there were many, 
who supported, either wholly or in part, Hopkintonian Sentiments.' 



THE SOURCES I37 

home missionary societies at work in the Genesee 
country, it was not surprising that these new 
views ultimately found a devious way into the 
Book of Mormon. The steps between source and 
destination may be traced with some assurance/^ — 
with New England as the ' fountain head of heresy/ 
and the Geneva presbytery as the channel, a few 
trickles of rationalism were bound to seep into 
Joseph's skull. "^^ 

«9 For the * partial disintegration of Calvinism in communities 
where it has long been established,' compare George P. Fisher, 
' History of Christian Doctrine,* 1896, p. 549. See also A. H. 
Strong, ' Systematic Theology,' 1893, Table of Old School and 
New School Views ; compare also Lewis Cheesman, * Differences 
between Old and New School Presbyterians,' 1848, p. 5 : * heresies 
privily brought in have corrupted a large part of the Presbyterian 
communion and are still artfully concealed under various dis- 
guises.* That Hopkins was the representative intermediary is 
evident from the list of his ninety-eight subscribers in New York 
State, as printed in his < System of Doctrines,* 1793. Compare 
Nathan Bangs, < Errors of Hopkinsianism,* New York, 1815 ; also, 
E. S. Ely, ' A contrast between Calvinism and Hopkinsianism,' 
New York, 181 1. From the latter it may be seen how Hopkins' 
views came to be verbally cited, among the * sixteen gross errors,* 
of the Western Memorial, 

■^oBy comparing the 'Book of Mormon,' beginning with II 
Nephi, with the following table, it can be seen how Smith came to 
modify the Five Points into a Predestination not absolute, a De- 
pravity not total, a Grace not irresistible and so on. 

HOPKINS* WORKS WESTERN MEMORIAL 

I, 341. * Man has natural abil- § 9. * Man is in full possession 

ity to perform every act which of all the ability necessary to a 

God requires of him. full compliance with all the 

I, 261. Men are sinners from commands of God, 



138 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 



birth through a divine constitu- 
tion, but are capable of dis- 
cerning the right and wrong. 

I, 211, 235. Men will begin 
their existence as sinners but 
their sin is their own and a free 
act.' 



§ 6. The posterity of Adam 
will always begin to sin, when 
they begin to exercise moral 
agency, but that original sin 
does not include a sinful bias. 

§§6 and 14. Men will always 
begin to sin when they begin to 
exercise moral agency but with- 
out impairing the same.' 



CHAPTER V 
THE AUTHOR'S MENTALITY 



CHAPTER V 

THE author's mentality 

In following up the sources of the Booh of Mor- 
mon, there is given a reconnaissance map of the 
author's mind. From the way he took in both cur- 
rent archaeology and its errors, and Calvinism and its 
contradictions, it is evident that, while his mental 
horizon was widening, his receptivity was greater 
than his reasoning, his imagination stronger than his 
discrimination. Furthermore, a volume that took 
at least two years to excogitate, plus nearly two 
years to write, should manifest some logical de- 
velopment. Such is not the fact: in I Nephi the 
writer swallowed Calvinism in a lump, in II Nephi 
he mixed with it some liberalism, but there the 
leavening process stopped. In the midst of seeming 
consistency there appear undigested fragments. 
One such is the speculation regarding the useful- 
ness of evil. The prophet falls foul of the problem 
of sin and this is his solution : — 

* It must needs be, that there is an opposition in all 
things. If not so, my first born in the wilderness, 
righteousness could not be brought to pass; neither 

141 



142 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

wickedness; neither holiness nor misery; neither good 
nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a com- 
pound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body, it 
must needs remain as dead, having no life, neither death 
nor corruption, nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, 
neither sense nor insensibility. Wherefore, it must 
needs have been created for a thing of nought ; where- 
fore, there would have been no purpose in the end of its 
creation. Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the 
wisdom of God, and His eternal purposes ; and also, the 
power, and the mercy, and the justice of God. And if 
ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no 
sin. And if ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say 
there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteous- 
ness, there be no happiness. And if there be no right- 
eousness nor happiness, there be no punishment nor 
misery. And if these things are not, there is no God, 
And if there is no God, we are not, neither the earth : 
for there could have been no creation of things, neither 
to act nor to be acted upon ; wherefore, all things must 
have vanished away.' * 

This is a fair sample of Joseph's early reasoning 
powers, yet what he lacked in logic he made up in 
feeling. Of impulsive nature, taking up thoughts 
as he found them in the air, he was forced at last 
into an emotional revolt against Calvinism. These 
were the days of total depravity, when the preacher 
affirmed that * Adam's sin, being made ours by im- 
putation, has exposed innumerable infants to Divine 

• Book of Mormon,' pp. 62, 63. Speech of Nephi. 



THE AUTHOR'S MENTALITY 143 

wrath.' There was of course a public reaction 
against such teachings/ shown in the increase of 
more humane sentiments.* But since these moving 
forces were, as yet, in the background, it speaks 
well for the young prophet's heart, if not for his 
head, that he could misinterpret in such kindly 
fashion the abstract injustice of dogma. Like an- 
other writer, not far off, he makes a short apology 
for infants.'^ In the book of Mosiah, he says, 
' infants fall in Adam, or in nature, yet none shall be 
found blameless before God, except it be little chil- 
dren. ' « 



'Sermon of Dr. Twiss, prolocutor of the General Assembly, 
from the Christian Disciple ^ May and June 1823, quoted in G. E. 
Ellis, ' Half Century of the Unitarian Controversy,* 1857, p. 82. 

sHotchkin, p. 136: 'Under the plain, unadulterated and un- 
adorned exhibitions of gospel truth, small children, in connexion 
with confirmed infidels and bold blasphemers, were heard mingling 
their cries for mercy.' 

* Compare Henry Adams, « History of the United States,' 1891, pp. 
239, 240 : — * In the second administration of Madison the struggle for 
existence was mitigated ; its first effect was the increasing cheer- 
fulness of religion. . , . For the first time in history, great 
bodies of men turned aside from the old religion, giving no better 
reason than it required them to believe in a cruel Deity.' 

*John Read, *A Short Apology for Infants,' Poughkeepsie, 
New York, 1816. 

6< Book of Mormon,' pp. 68-9, compare also : — (168) * The in- 
fant perisheth not that dieth in his infancy; (197) And little 
children also have eternal life; (617) Little children cannot 
repent, wherefore it is an awful wickedness to deny the pure 
mercies of God unto them.' 



144 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Thus far it is clear that the author could manage a 
metaphor better than a syllogism. But this is only 
a tenth part of the ancient record, the remainder of 
which, according to the revelation of July, 1828, 
' does contain all those parts of my gospel, which 
my holy prophets desired should come forth unto 
this people/ This body of divinity is what Smith 
constantly referred to as the ' plain and simple gos- 
pel/ That it was not plain is seen from its distor- 
tions of Presbyterianism, and that it was not simple 
from its other dogmatic borrowings. In evidence, 
one need but briefly glance at the other two sects 
which Joseph mentioned at the time of his first 
vision. With the spread of Baptist principles at this 
time,^ and with seven varieties of the denomination 
existing near by,^ it is natural that there should be 
set forth such variations as adult baptism, total im- 
mersion and baptism unto repentance.^ Further- 
more, in this Western Circuit, there was another 



7 T. F. Curtis, ' The Progress of Baptist Principles in the last 
One Hundred Years,' 1855. 

8 Near Ithaca there were * Hard Shell,' < Free Will,' and « Seventh 
Day * Baptists, also * Foot Washers,' ' Christ-ians ' and * Campbell- 
ites.' Compare also J. Chadwick, « New Light on the Subject of 
Infant Baptism,' 1832, Geneva, Cayuga County, N. Y. 

9 'Book of Mormon,' (616) < It is solemn mockery before 
God that ye should baptize little children ' ; (503) * Ye shall 
immerse them in water ' ; (494) * Many were baptized unto 
repentance.' 



THE AUTHOR'S MENTALITY 145 

denomination of larger numbers/^ and of greater 
influence upon the youthful convert. In after years 
Smith acknowledged that in 1820 he was 'some- 
what partial to the Methodist sect.'" This admis- 
sion goes far to explain the rhetorical tone of his 
book, — the peculiarity that the speeches of the an- 
cient prophets are filled with camp-meeting echoes, 
and catchwords of the old-time Methodist exhorter. 
Take for example the following: 

'And now it came to pass that after Alma had 
spoken these words unto them, he sat down upon the 
ground, and Amulek arose and began to teach them, say- 
ing : My brethren, I think that it is impossible that ye 
should be ignorant of the things which have been spoken 
concerning the coming of Christ, who is taught by us to 
be the Son of God ; yea, I know that these things were 
taught unto you, bountifully, before your dissention from 
among us, and as ye have desired of my beloved brother, 
that he should make known unto you what ye should do, 
because of your afflictions; and he hath spoken some- 
what unto you to prepare your minds ; yea, and he hath 
exhorted you unto faith, and to patience ; yea, even that 
ye would have so much faith as even to plant the word in 
your hearts, that ye may try the experiment of its good- 
ness. . . . 

Now there is not any man that can sacrifice his own 
blood, which will atone for the sins of another. Now if 

*o Methodists claimed an enrollment of half a million in the 
United States in 1820. 'Encyclopaedia Brittanica,' article, * Meth- 
odism/ 

H * Biographical Sketches,' p. 75. 



146 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

a man murdereth, behold, will our law, which is just, 
take the life of his brother? I say unto you, Nay. But 
the law requireth the life of him who hath murdered ; 
therefore there can be nothing, which is short of an Infi- 
nite atonement, which will suffice for the sins of the 
world ; therefore it is expedient that there should be a 
great and last sacrifice : . . . this being the intent 
of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, 
which overpowereth justice and bringeth about means 
unto men that they may have faith unto repentance. 
And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and 
encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exer- 
ciseth no faith unto repentance, is exposed to the whole 
law of the demands of justice ; therefore, only unto him 
that hath faith unto repentance, is brought about the 
great and Eternal plan of redemption. Therefore may 
God grant unto you, my brethren, that ye may begin to 
exercise your faith unto repentance, that ye begin to call 
upon His holy name, that He would have mercy upon 
you; yea, cry unto Him for mercy; for He is mighty to 
save; yea, humble yourselves, and continue in prayer 
unto Him ; cry unto Him when ye are in your fields ; yea, 
over all your flocks ; cry unto Him in your houses, yea, 
over all your household, both morning, midday, and 
evening ; yea, cry unto Him against the power of your 
enemies ; yea, cry unto Him against the Devil, who is an 
enemy to all righteousness. And now as I said unto you 
before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore I be- 
seech of you, that ye do not procrastinate the day of 
your repentance until the end ; for after this day of life, 
which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we 
do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh 
the night of darkness, wherein there can be no labor per- 



THE AUTHOR^S MENTALITY 147 

formed. Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that 
awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my 
God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit 
which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out 
of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess 
your body in that eternal world.* ^' 

Amulek's speech, with its offer of a present, free 
and full salvation, is reminiscent of the Wesleyan 
pietism once taught in Palmyra.^* Elsewhere in the 
book there are the more ordinary Methodist teach- 
ings, as to backsliding and restoration.^* Yet on the 
whole, the influence here exerted was more prac- 
tical than theoretical; one cause of the rapid spread 
of Mormonism was its partial adaptation of the 
ways and means of Methodism. Out of the latter s 
marvelous organization of local and itinerant clergy, 
with their various conferences, societies and circuits, 
the founder of the church of the Latter-day Saints 
extracted a dislocated hierarchy with unprecedented 
functions. What were the offices and duties of 
Mormon apostles and elders, evangelists and bish- 
ops, priests and teachers and deacons, may be ob- 
scurely seen in the last of the fourteen books. 

12 « Book of Mormon,' pp. 335-8. 

13 Hotchkin, p. 375. In 1807, at Palmyra, the preacher was an 
English Wesleyan. 

14 « Book of Mormon,' (64) ' That they might repent, their state 
became a state of probation'; (551) 'The day of grace was 
passed with them. They did not come with contrite hearts.' 



148 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Judging from a parallel revelation given in June, 
1830,^^ this little book of Mormon is essentially a 
book of discipline and has presumably been added 
as an afterthought.*® 

Without entering the penumbra of minor creeds," 
some idea has been gained of ' the confusion and 
strife among the different denominations/ in Joseph's 
fifteenth year. It is now ten years later and he has 
done little to reconcile the differences; instead he has 
but transferred to paper his ov^n obf ustication ; his 
ancient record, like an old-fashioned mirror, gives 
back images vague and ill defined. 

To complete the framework of environment, and 
to show how it quadrates with the book, it is need- 
ful to examine a few incidental references, certain 
semi-political movements which disturbed the new 
settlements. These were, — fear of the Church of 
Rome, hatred of Infidelity and the agitation against 
Free Masonry. The strongest hints against Roman 
Catholicism occur early in the book, such as in the 
preface of Nephi's vision of the future of America: — 

^5 * Book of Commandments,' Chapter 24. 

^6 * Book of Mormon,* p. 609, * Wherefore, I write a few more 
things, contrary to that which I had supposed ; for I had sup- 
posed not to have written any more; but I write a few more 
things, that perhaps they may be of worth unto my brethren, the 
Lamanites, in some future day according to the will of the Lord/ 

^■^ For a general tirade against the sects, compare * Book of Mor. 
mon,' 566, « O ye wicked and perverse. . , . O ye pollutions, ye 
hypocrites, ye teachers,* etc. 



THE AUTHOR'S MENTALITY 149 

' And it came to pass that I saw among the nations of 
the Gentiles the foundation of a great church. And the 
angel said unto me, Behold the foundation of a church, 
which is most abominable above all other churches, which 
slayeth the saints of God, yea, and tortureth them and 
bindeth them down, and yoketh them with a yoke of iron, 
and bringeth them down into captivity. 

And it came to pass that I beheld this great and abomi- 
nable church; and I saw the devil that he was the 
founder of it. And I also saw gold, and silver, and 
silks, and scarlets, and fine twined linen, and all manner 
of precious clothing ; and I saw many harlots. And the 
angel spake unto me, saying. Behold the gold, and the 
silver, and the silks, and the scarlets, and the fine twined 
linen, and the precious clothing, and the harlots, are the 
desires of this great and abominable church ; and also 
for the praise of the world, do they destroy the Saints of 
God, and bring them down into captivity.' ^^ 

This covert and virulent attack may perhaps be 
traced to Joseph's reading; for it is in keeping with 
the sentiments of the day. In 1831, the prophet 
condescended to approve of Fox's Book of Martyrs.^'' 

18 < Book of Mormon/ pp. 25, 26. Compare also 31, 56, 113, 117, 
120, 234, 322, 337. 

19 E. Stevenson, * Reminiscences of Joseph the Prophet/ p. 5 : 
* In parting from under our roof, the prophet expressed a desire to 
have a loan of a large English " Book of Martyrs," which we pos- 
sessed, promising to return it to us when he should meet us again 
in Zion, in the State of Missouri, which he did, and on returning it 
said, " I have by the aid of the Urim and Thummim, seen those 
martyrs, and they were honest, devoted followers of Christ, accord- 
ing to the light they possessed, and they will be saved." * 



ISO THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

If before this he had not run across one of the popu- 
lar ' Cruelty Books/ yet, as a boy, it is not unlikely 
that he had a look at the ubiquitous New England 
Primer with its gruesome woodcuts of the victims 
of Bloody Mary, burning at the stake.'° At any 
rate, the young convert's spiritual advisers fomented 
the hatred of Roman Catholics. Any back-country 
exhorter was welcome to throw a stick at the Man 
of Sin, while the anti-popery campaign literature 
comprised works fit only for the expurgated list of 
decency." 

But in this era of political good feeling, bigotry 
did not stop with words. On the very field, where 
two centuries before Brebeuf and other Jesuit mis- 
sionaries had suffered death at the hands of the sav- 
ages," a Protestant family, it was alleged, now ran 
a fearful risk in harboring a Romanist.'' Finally the 

20 Compare P. L. Ford, ' The New England Primer ' ; various cuts 
of the Man of Sin. The edition of 1779 contains a picture of the 
burning of Mr. John Rogers, 1554. * A few days before his death 
he wrote the following advice to his children : " Abhor the arrant 
whore of Rome and all her blasphemies, And drink not of her 
cursed cup; obey not her decrees." * 

21 Harriet Martineau, * Society in America,* 1837, 4th edition, 
2, 322 : « Parents put into their children's hands, as religious books, 
the foul libels against the Catholics, which are circulated through- 
out the country. In the west, I happened to find a book of this 
kind, which no epithet but filthy will describe.* Compare Maria 
Monk, « Awful Disclosures,* 1836. 

22 Francis Parkman, 'Jesuits in North America,* 1896, p. 122. 

23 J. G. Shea, 'History of the Catholic Church in the United 
States,* 1890, p. 498. 



THE AUTHOR'S MENTALITY 151 

opposition took an organized form, and the Protest- 
ant Association, with its organ The Protestant gath- 
ered old calumnies and framed new ones. To trace 
the growth of this early form of the A. P. A., is 
going beyond the limits of the Book of Mormon. 
All that should be noted is that the author shared in 
the popular narrowness and misapprehension. 

To proceed to another sign of the times, which 
left a water mark in the Mormon documents. The 
agitation against Papistry was matched by the agi- 
tation against Infidelity. For the sake of continuity 
a specific line of resistance may be followed as far 
back as 1735. In the first heresy trial in the Presby- 
terian church in America, one of Benjamin Frank- 
lin's friends ^^ was condemned for preaching that 
Christianity was largely a revival or new edition of 
the laws and precepts of nature." But the deistic 
drift could not be stopped. Especially after the 
Revolution, was the critical period in politics, en- 
joined with a critical period in orthodoxy. Then 
came the strictures of the General Assembly of 1798, 
which fulminated against the ' abounding infidelity, 
which, in many instances, tends to atheism itself 
. . . which assumes a front of daring impiety 
and possesses a mouth filled with blasphemy.'" 

24 Compare, ' A Letter to a Friend in the Country,' 1735. 
25Briggs, p. 231. 
26Gillet, I, 296; 2, no. 



152 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

The New England clergy also warned against the 
danger of infidel philosophy," and, in 1810, a mis- 
sionary of the Connecticut Society, who had pene- 
trated into the neighborhood of Lake Erie, reported 
that infidelity abounded to an alarming degree and 
in various shapes in the district, west of the Military 
Tract. '^ 

The rate of movement in philosophic thought 
is one thing, how it affected the masses another. 
The tastes of the people being given so largely to 
affairs of state and matters of theology, greater po- 
litical freedom was followed by greater religious 
freedom. Indeed, to many eyes, after the second 
war with England," the land of liberty threatened 
to become a land of license.^^ The political relations 
with France had already prepared the way for 
French infidelity. ^^ On the Ohio there arose free- 
thinking societies, affiliated with the Jacobin club 



2' Compare Barrett Wendell, < A Literary History of America,' 
New York, 1900, p. 127. 
28Gillett, 2, no. 

29 J. F. Jameson, < The History of Historical Writing in America, 
1891. 

30 Compare Dr. Charles Caldwell, * A Defense of the Medical 
Profession Against the Charge of Infidelity and Irreligion,' 1824; 
also Timothy Dwight, * The Nature and Danger of French Infi- 
delity,* 1798, and < Infidel Philosophy,* 1798. 

31 Noah Porter, < Deism in America,* in Ueberweg*s * History of 
Philosophy,* 1892, 2, 451. 



THE AUTHOR'S MENTALITY 153 

of Philadelphia;''' on the Genesee ^^ there was an infi- 
del club, with a circulating library comprising the 
works of Volney and Hume, Voltaire and Paine. 

It is with the last writer that the concern lies. The 
others were discussed in educated circles; *Tom' 
Paine's sayings were bandied about by the ig- 
norant.^* His Age of Reason being sold cheap or 
sometimes given away, Joseph may have laid hands 
on a copy,^^ but, as heretofore, other than literary 
sources were open to him. The people's lyceum 
was now in its golden age, and the boy who was 
noted among his companions for his seriousness,''* 
would have taken naturally to the portentous 
gravity of the local Thespian society or debating 
junto. ^^ Even without membership in the latter, the 
topics of the day reached the lad's ears; he now 
made visits to town to get the weekly paper, ^® and 
to sit chatting in the rustic row. There, in the 



32Gillett, 1,420. 

33 At Scottsville, near Caledonia. Hotchkin, p. 90. 

34 W. H. Venable, * Beginnings of Literary Culture in the Ohio 
Valley,' 1891, pp. 235, 238. 

35 G. Q. Cannon, < Life of Joseph Smith,' 1888, p. 335 : — * Joseph 
in later life believed what he asserted against the opinions of a scep- 
tical and materialistic age, when Voltaire and Tom Paine were 
the authorities.' 

36 Newel Knight, * Journal,' p. 47. 

3^ A Hall of the Young Men's Association existed at Palmyra in 
l830.--Kennedy, p. 14. 
38 < Biographical Sketches/ p. 98. 



154 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

^country store, the subjects of discussion were as 
varied as the wares, and in the tavern, religion, like 
politics, was the delight of those that talked for 
talk's sake. As the boy, through inclination and 
through poverty, ^^ was less of a reader than a talker, 
it is not meant to connect him, except remotely, to 
the culture of the day. In truth, as regards polite 
learning, he was on the margin of cultivation; the 
recent awakening of American letters had no in- 
fluence on him; he was farther in spirit than in 
space from such contemporaries as Brockden Brown, 
Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving. For all 
that, he had his intellectual interests; local creeds 
were his aids to reflection, and freethinkers his 
stimulus to controversy. Before discovering how, 
in the Book of Mormon, he incorporated, only to re- 
fute, the current deistic arguments, the narrow spirit 
of the times should be noted. 

The hard lot of the thinker who would be free 
was recorded by the novelist and observed by the 
traveler. One of Cooper's heroines is applauded 
for being 'properly impressed with the horrors of a 
deist's doctrine,* while another 'shrunk from his 
company.' *° A foreign traveler observed that unbe- 
lief was treated as a crime.*^ This social ostracism 

39 'Times and Seasons,' 3, 771. 

40 T. R. Lounsbury, < Life of Fenimore Cooper,' p. 26. 

41 Harriet Martineau, p. 335, « I was told of one and another. 



THE AUTHOR'S MENTALITY 155 

came near leading to political disability. Some 
wished to see regulations made by which deists 
should be excluded from oflRce. But the Jefferson 
administration, although suspected of infidelity," 
allowed no tampering with the rights of conscience." 
But the good sense and moderation that forestalled 
any approach to a reunion of church and state, was 
not to be found in the sectary. The author of the 
Book of Mormon represents America as indeed a 
land of free speech, yet the advocate of a prehistoric 
deism is called Anti-Christ. He quotes opaquely 
from the Age of Reason and for his hardness of heart 
is punished both by the High Priest and the Chief 
Judge:— 

* And it came to pass in the seventeenth year of the 
reign of the Judges, there was continual peace. But it 
came to pass in the latter end of the seventeenth year, 
there came a man into the land of Zarahemla ; and he 
was called Anti-Christ, for he began to preach unto the 
people against the prophecies which had been spoken by 

with an air of mystery, like that with which one is informed of 
any person being insane, or intemperate or insolvent, that so and 
so was thought to be an unbeliever.* 

42 < Of this dangerous, deistical and Utopian school, a great per- 
sonage from Virginia is a favored pupil. . . , His principles 
relish so strongly of Paris, and are seasoned in such a profusion of 
French Garlic, that he offends the whole nation.* Joseph Dennie 
in the Portfolio^ Number I, 1805, quoted in Stedman and Hutch- 
inson, * A Library of American Literature,* 1890, 4, 250. 

*3 James Schouler, « History of the United States,* 1882, p. 251. 



IS6 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

the prophets, concerning the coming of Christ. Now 
there was no law against a man*s belief. . . . And 
this Anti-Christ, whose name was Korihor, and the law 
could have no hold upon him. And he began to preach 
unto the people, that there should be no Christ. And 
after this manner did he preach, saying : O ye that are 
bound down under a foolish and vain hope, why do ye 
yoke yourselves with such foolish things? Why do ye 
look for a Christ? For no man can know of anything 
which is to come. Behold, these things which ye call 
prophecies, which ye say are handed down by the holy 
prophets, behold, they are foolish traditions of your 
fathers. How do ye know of their surety? Behold, ye 
cannot know of things which ye do not see ; therefore ye 
cannot know that there shall be a Christ. Ye look for- 
ward and say, that ye see a remission of your sins. But 
behold, it is the effects of a phrensied mind : and this 
derangement of your minds comes because of the tradi- 
tion of your fathers, which lead you away into a belief of 
things which are not so. And many more such things 
did he say unto them, telling them that there could be no 
atonement made for the sins of men, but every man fared 
in this life, according to the management of the creature ; 
therefore every man prospered according to his genius, 
and that every man conquered according to his strength ; 
and whatsoever a man did, was no crime. And thus he 
did preach unto them, leading away the hearts of many, 
causing them to lift up their heads in their wickedness ; 
yea, leading away many women, and also men, to com- 
mit whoredoms ; telling them that when a man was dead, 
that was the end thereof. . . . 

And it came to pass that the High Priest said 
unto him, Why do ye go about perverting the ways of 



THE AUTHOR'S MENTALITY 157 

the Lord ? Why do ye teach this people that there shall 
be no Christ, to interrupt their rejoicings ? Why do ye 
speak against all the prophecies of the holy prophets? 
Now the High Priest's name was Giddonah. And Kori- 
hor said unto him because I do not teach the foolish tra- 
ditions of your fathers, and because I do not teach this 
people to bind themselves down under the foolish ordi- 
nances and performances which are laid down by ancient 
priests, to usurp power and authority over them, to keep 
them in ignorance, that they may not lift up their heads, 
but be brought down according to thy words. Ye say 
that this people is a free people. Behold, I say they are 
in bondage. Ye say that those ancient prophecies are 
true. Behold, I say that ye do not know that they are 
true. Ye say that this people is a guilty and a fallen 
people, because of the transgression of a parent. Be- 
hold, I say that a child is not guilty because of its 
parents. And ye also say that Christ shall come. But 
behold, I say that ye do not know that there shall be a 
Christ. And ye say also, that He shall be slain for the 
sins of the world ; and thus ye lead away this people 
after the foolish traditions of your fathers, and according 
to your own desires ; and ye keep them down, even as it 
were, in bondage, that ye may glut yourselves with the 
labors of their hands, that they durst not look up with 
boldness, and that they durst not enjoy their rights and 
privileges ; yea, they durst not make use of that which is 
their own, lest they should offend their priests, who do 
yoke them according to their desires, and have brought 
them to believe by their traditions, and their dreams, 
and their whims, and their visions, and their pre- 
tended mysteries, that they should, if they did 
not do according to their words, offend some unknown 



158 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

being, which they say is God ; a being who never has 
been seen or known, who never was nor ever will be. 
Now when the High Priest and the Chief Judge saw the 
hardness of his heart ; yea, when they saw that he would 
revile even against God, they would not make any reply 
to his words ; but they caused that he should be bound ; 
and they delivered him up into the hands of the officers, 
and sent him to the land of Zarahemla, that he might be 
brought before Alma and the Chief Judge, who was 
governor over all the land. 

And it came to pass that when he was brought be- 
fore Alma and the Chief Judge, he did go on in the 
same manner as he did in the land of Gideon ; yea, he 
went on to blaspheme. And he did rise up in great 
swelling words before Alma, and did revile against the 
priests and teachers, accusing them of leading away the 
people after the silly traditions of their fathers, for the 
sake of glutting in the labors of the people.' ** 

44 Compare, in order, with the above passage the following ex- 
tracts from ' The Writings of Thomas Paine,* edited by Moncure 
D. Conway, 1896. 

« Book of Mormon.' * Alma,* « Age of Reason,' Part I, edi- 

Chapter xvi, pp. 321-324. *Ye tion of 1793. * As Mystery and 
cannot know of things which ye Miracle took charge of the past 
do not see. and the present. Prophecy took 

charge of the future. Those to 
whom a prophecy should be told, 
could not tell whether the man 

Ye say that ye see a remis- prophesied or lied, or whether 
sion of your sins. But this de- it had been revealed to him, or 
rangement of your minds comes whether he conceited it. Moral 
because of the traditions of your justice cannot take the innocent 
fathers. . . . There could be no for the guilty, . . . the fabulous 
atonement made for the sins of theory of redemption, that one 



THE AUTHOR^S MENTALITY 159 



The spirit of intolerance diffused through the 

men, but every man fared in 
this life according to the man- 
agement of the creature. When 
a man was dead, that was the 
end thereof. 

A child is not guilty because 
of its parents. 



person could stand in the place 
of another, and could perform 
meritorious services for him. 



I trouble not myself about the 
manner of future existence. That 
God visits the sins of the fathers 
upon the children, , . . This is 
contrary to every principle of 
moral justice. 

The means employed in all 
time to deceive the people. . . . 
The church has set up a religion 
of pomp and revenue. The 
trade of priest is for the sake of 
gain. From the first preachers 
the fraud went on, . . . till the 
idea of its being a pious fraud 
became lost in the belief of its 
being true. Wild and whim- 
sical systems of belief have 
been fabricated. The three 
means to impose upon man- 
kind are Mystery, Miracle and 
Prophecy.' 
Closer examination of this passage from Alma betrays the usual 
haphazard borrowing. Alma's counter-argument of the * planets 
which move in their regular form,' was taken from the enemy ; it 
was, in fact one of the chief deistic arguments for belief in a First 
Cause. (Compare « Age of Reason,' Part I, Chapters 9, 1 1 and espec- 
ially 13, * The Religious Ideas inspired by Nature,' and also in 
Paine's citation of Addison's Paraphrase of the 19th Psalm, the 
lines * and all the planets as they roll,' and * the hand that made us 
is divine.') If Joseph here showed a lack of logic, the fault was 
not individual but collective. People confused deism with athe- 
ism; Paine was justly called 'Citizen Egotism,' but he was no 
atheist 



Under the foolish ordinances 
and performances which are laid 
down by ancient priests ... ye 
lead away this people after the 
foolish traditions of your fathers, 
. . . that ye may glut yourselves 
with the labors of their hands, 
— lest they should offend their 
priests, who have brought them 
to believe by their traditions, 
and their dreams, and their 
whims, and their visions, and 
their pretended mysteries.* 



i6o THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Book of Mormon has meaning; it places the docu- 
ment well within the first third of the century, the 
'fermenting period' of American thought. And 
there is a third and final popular movement herein 
reflected, which fixes, not only the time, but the 
place of the record. The frequent allusions to 
'wicked and secret societies, wicked and secret 
combinations,**^ point to the agitation against Free 
Masonry in New York State, beginning in 1826. 
The abduction and alleged murder of William Mor- 
gan by some of the Masonic fraternity, although 
without the consent of the central authority, caused 
an unparalleled excitement This mechanic of Ba- 
tavia, reported to be preparing a book divulging the 
secrets of the order, was seized, haled off to Fort 
Niagara and suddenly made away with.'^^ It was be- 
lieved that judges, juries and witnesses, if Masons, 
would exonerate the culprits ; at any rate, the outrage 
resulted in the abolishing of local lodges,*^ and in the 
rise of the Anti-Masonic party. It is not because of 
its political,*^ but its religious effects that traces of 
this agitation are to be found in the Mormon Bible; 
the testimonies of Masons were considered to be 

*6 * Book of Mormon,* pp. 589, 595, 596. 

46 Jenkins, • History of the Political Parties in the State of New 
York,' Auburn, 1846, pp. 327-332. 

<7 Butler and Crittenden, < Rochester Semi-Centennial,' 1884, p. 63. 

48 McClintock and Strong, * Encylopedia,' article Mormonism, 
6, 624 ff. 



THE AUTHOR'S MENTALITY i6i 

Jesuitical evasions, and, above all, the so called de- 
istical tendencies of their formulae v^ere alleged to 
be destructive of Christianity.*^ Inasmuch as this 
affair took place in the year in which Joseph came 
of age, as the victim was arrested at Canandaigua, 
only nine miles away, and as rumor, even in the 
wilderness, was swift, '° without the aid of the cur- 
rent pamphlets of exposure," the Morgan excite- 
ment got into the young prophet's brain and was 
bound to come out in his writings." The passage 
from the 'abridgement taken from the Book of 
Ether,' may be offered as a final bit of internal evi- 
dence, as to the time, place and circumstances at 
the coming forth of the Booh of Mormon : — 

* But behold, satan did stir up the hearts of the more 
part of the Nephites, insomuch that they did unite with 
those bands of robbers, and did enter into their cove- 
nants, and their oaths, that they would protect and pre- 
serve one another, in whatsoever difficult circumstances 
they should be placed in, that they should not suffer for 
their murders, and their plunderings, and their stealings. 

And it came to pass that they did have their signs, 

49 Isaac Sharpless, * Two Centuries of Pennsylvania History,' 
1900, pp. 291-2. 

50 De Tocqueville, p. 406, * It is difficult to imagine the incred- 
ible rapidity with which thought circulates in the midst of these 
deserts.' 

" Jenkins, p. 355. 

52 Compare also ' Book of Commandments,' p. 55. 



i62 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

yea, their secret signs, and their secret words; and 
this that they might distinguish a brother who had en- 
tered into the covenant, that whatsoever wickedness his 
brother should do, he should not be injured by his 
brother, nor by those who did belong to his band, who 
had taken this covenant ; and thus they might murder, 
and plunder, and steal, and commit whoredoms, and all 
manner of wickedness, contrary to the laws of their 
country and also the laws of their God ; and whosoever 
of those who belonged to their band, should reveal unto 
the world of their wickedness and their abominations, 
should be tried, not according to the laws of their coun- 
try, but according to the laws of their wickedness, 
which had been given by Gadianton and Kishkumen. 
Now behold, it is these secret oaths and covenants, which 
Alma commanded his son should not go forth unto the 
world, lest they should be a means of bringing down the 
people unto destruction. . . . 

And now I, Moroni, do not write the manner of 
their oaths and combinations, for it hath been made 
known unto me that they are had among all people, and 
they are had among the Lamanites, and they have caused 
the destruction of this people of whom I am now speak- 
ing, and also the destruction of the people of Nephi; 
and whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinat- 
ions, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over 
the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed, for the Lord 
will not suffer that the blood of His saints, which shall be 
shed by them, shall always cry unto Him from the ground 
for vengeance upon them, and yet He avengeth them not ; 
wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these 
things should be shewn unto you, that thereby ye may 
repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous 



THE AUTHOR'S MENTALITY 163 

combinations shall get above you, which are built up to 
get power and gain, and the work, yea, even the work of 
destruction come upon you ; yea, even the sword of the 
justice of the eternal God, shall fall upon you, to your 
overthrow and destruction, if ye shall suffer these things 
to be; wherefore the Lord commandeth you, when ye 
shall see these things come among you, that ye shall 
awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this 
secret combination which shall be among you, or wo be 
unto it, because of the blood of them who have been 
slain ; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it, 
and also upon those who build it up.' " 

Without further quotation or digression, it re- 
mains to get at a psychological estimate of the Booh 
of Mormon. As literature it is not worth reading, 
— the educated Mormons fight shy of it; ^* as history 
it merely casts a side light on a frontier settlement 
in the twenties; but as biography it has value, it 
gives, as it were, a cross section of the author's 
brain. The subject may be most inclusively studied 
from the standpoint of the constructive imagina- 
tion, its materials and range, its phases aesthetic 
and intellective, its aspects emotional and possibly 
moral." So first, as in the case of the progenitors 
and their dreams, the objects and scenes and inci- 

^3 « Book of Mormon,' pp. 446, 588, 589. 
" Woodward, p. 4. 

^^ Compare James Sully, * The Human Mind,* 1892, Chapter v, 
•The Productive Imagination.* 



i64 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

dents of experience furnished the stuff for the 
growth of Joseph's mental inwards. In sticking to 
the plenary inspiration of the Book of Mormon, the 
Saints make Smith greater than a genius, for whom 
there is no such thing as a perfectly new creation, 
or freedom from the bounds and checks of his situ- 
ation. But to go on: like the events already cited, 
this entire 'Sacred History of America' is woven 
out of those ideas which interested the people of 
Western New York about 1830. Despite such lim- 
itation, the range of Joseph's fancy was extensive; 
his imagination was not trammeled by his under- 
standing; his information came orally, and there 
were few books to check him: hence his anachron- 
isms. From the same lack of knowledge, his pre- 
cognitions of the future are naught. Joseph's 
prophecies are pseudographs, — events that had 
happened put as if they were yet to happen. ^^ 
And the aesthetic was as lacking as the prophetic. 
The ' poems of Joseph ' are not half bad, but they 
are not his; while the picture of his favorite Lam- 
anites is not poetic but prosaic; Cooper idealized the 
Indian, Smith made him repulsive. 

Of the intellective phase of his imagination, some- 
thing more favorable can be said, yet with strength 

5« Contrast Thompson, p. 229, < The " Book of Mormon " is a 
true and divinely inspired record, therefore the prophecies and 
promises contained in it will all be fulfilled.' 



THE AUTHOR'S MENTALITY 165 

there was weakness. The Booh of Mormon, as a 
storehouse of sectarianism, implies a retentive mem- 
ory and, at the same time, a lack of discriminative 
judgment. Granted that the style was inflated, be- 
cause that was the style of the day," and that the 
thoughts were diffuse, because dictated, yet the 
feebleness of the critical faculty is shown in various 
ways. In the midst of the ancient story, modern 
inventions are grotesquely inserted; the language is 
biblical, but the ideas are local. The lost tribes of 
the Jews emigrate to America in vessels which are 
a cross between Noah's ark and an Erie canal boat. 
This occasional mixture of sense and nonsense may 
be matched among his co-religionists, for other 
readers took the Scriptures literally and interpreted 
fancifully;'' nevertheless Joseph's imagination ap- 
pears to have been seldom controlled by the judicial 
spirit. In the recension of the first edition he 
evinced no capacity to select and reject; to this day 
there remain strange puerilities. After the natural 



^' De Tocqueville, 2, 184, gives a characteristic explanation 

* Why American Writers and Orators often use an Inflated Style *: — 

• In democratic communities, each citizen is habitually engaged in 
the contemplation of a very puny object, namely himself. If he 
ever raises his looks higher, he perceives only the immense form 
of society at large, or the more imposing aspect of mankind.' 

58 « Book of Mormon,' p 53, Orson Pratt, in footnote, interprets 
(Isaiah, 49), *my highways shall be exalted,' as railways exalted 
in the Rocky Mountains. 



i66 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

outburst against free masonry, there occurs the fol- 
lowing curiosity of literature: — 

< And now I, Moroni, proceed with my record. There- 
fore behold, it came to pass that because of the secret 
combinations of Akish and his friends, behold they did 
overthrow the Kingdom of Omer. And the Lord warned 
Omer in a dream that he should depart out of the land, 
wherefore Omer passed by the hill of Shim, and came to 
a place which was called Ablom ; and after that he had 
anointed Emer to be king the house of Emer did pros- 
per exceedingly and they had horses, and asses, and 
there were elephants and cureloms and cumoms ; all of 
which were useful unto man, and more especially the ele- 
phants and cureloms and cumoms/® 

Joseph must have been thinking of these his pre- 
historic Jabberwoks, when he told his followers to 

59 * Book of Mormon/ pp. 588-590. Another puzzle in etymology 
is to be found on p. 571 : — * Ether was a descendant of Coriantor; 
Coriantor was the son of Moron ; and Moron was the son of Ethem ; 
and Ethem was the son of Ahah ; and Ahah was the son of Seth ; and 
Seth was the son of Shiblon ; and Shiblon was the son of Com ; 
and Com was the son of Coriantum ; and Coriantum was the son 
of Amnigaddah; and Amnigaddah was the son of Aaron; and 
Aaron was a descendant of Heth, who was the son of Hearthom ; 
and Hearthom was the son of Lib ; and Lib was the son of Kish ; 
and Kish was the son of Corum ; and Corum was the son of Levi ; 
and Levi was the son of Kim ; and Kim was the son of Morian- 
ton ; and Morianton was a descendant of Riplakish ; and Riplakish 
was a son of Shez; and Shez was the son of Heth; and Heth was 
the son of Com ; and Com was the son of Coriantum ; and Corian- 
tum was the son of Emer ; and Emer was the son of Omer ; and 
Omer was the son of Shule ; and Shule was the son of Kib ; and 
Kib was the son of Orihah, who was the son of Jared. * 



THE AUTHOR'S MENTALITY 167 

beware of 'a fanciful, flowery and heated imagina- 
tion. ^ But seriously, whatever the sources of these 
humors and conceits, they are characteristic of the 
whole tribe of Smith. Joseph's hypertrophy of 
imagination was inherited: his aunt composed a 
vivid poem on death and the grave ;^^ his mother 
could almost see the flutter of demons' wings; his 
father had a panorama of visions; his grandfather 
Mack complained of his mind being 'imagining but 
agitated.' Environment likewise had an influence. 
Brought up in the area swept by revivals — the * burnt- 
over district ' as it was called — his imagination was 
fired by his feelings. Thereby he escaped the cold 
logic of the schools; he also went beyond the limits 
of probability. All this had an effect on his charac- 
ter. Ignorant of the subconscious force of un- 
checked reverie, he considered his every whimsy to 
be inspired. How far his imagination fostered his 
credulity, how far he became conscious that his 
'translating' was mainly automatic, whether as a 
dramatically imagined 'seer and revelator,' he was 
deceived or deceiving, — these are questions for the 
moralist to decide, after the results are in. The 
problem, now, is one of letters rather than of ethics, 
— to see how the characteristics of the book fit the 
character of the man. 

60* Times and Seasons,* i, 102. 
^^ * Biographical Sketches,' p. 29. 



i68 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

The four chief marks of the Book of Mormon are 
a redundant style, fragmentary information, a fanci- 
ful archaeology, and an unsystematic theology. 
The redundancy of style fits the description given 
by a lawyer, who defended the prophet in his 
Missouri troubles in 1839. He says, 'In conversa- 
tion he was slow, and used too many words to ex- 
press his ideas and would not generally go directly 
to a point/ ^* It was this verbosity that made 
Joseph magnify his microscopic facts many dia- 
meters. The inherent paucity of his information 
accords with the observation of Josiah Quincy, that 
the prophet ' talked as from a strong mind utterly 
unenlightened by the teachings of history.'*^ The 
same thing explains Joseph's lifelong delight in 
pseudo-archaeology, from his own fireside tales to 
the citing of Central American discoveries as ' more 
proofs of the Book of Mormon, as a historical and 
religious record, written in ancient times by a 
branch of the house of Israel, who peopled America 
and from whom the Indians are descended.' ^ Now 
these very flights of fancy were part and parcel of 
Smith's strange being. If they are not to be con- 
nected with the roving habits of his progenitors, 
they were at least nurtured by the free life of the 

«2 p. H. Burnett, 'Recollections of a Pioneer,' 1880, p. 66 
63 < Figures of the Past,* p. 399. 
64 « Times and Seasons,' i, 69. 



THE AUTHOR'S MENTALITY 169 

forest. The boy who withdrew at will into a past 
world of his own, was the youth who scoured the 
country for hidden treasure, and the young man 
who oscillated across the v/idth of the state ®^ in 
search of the elusive gold plates. 

Finally his bodily movements are matched by his 
mental restlessness, — the fourth mark of the man. In 
his logic he skips the middle term ; in his theology 
he darts from creed to creed; as defender of the faith 
against Romanism or Infidelity, he is impatient, 
intolerant. In fine, it may be said that Joseph 
Smith, in all respects, although in exaggerated 
form, showed himself the type of Western pioneer, 
as he was contrasted with the Easterner. Of that 
type a foreign traveler observed, ' their business is 
conducted with an almost feverish excitement, 
. . . their passions are more intense, their relig- 
ious morality less authoritative, and their convic- 
tions less firm.'^ 

To adjust one's ideas of the mental ability of the 
imaginative, emotional, young American, a com- 
parison may be made with a similar case in English 
literature. Going back to the reign of George 111 
the origin of the Book of Mormon has an instruct- 
ive likeness to that of the Rowley myth. Thomas 

^5 For Joseph's movements between Lake Erie and the Susque* 
hanna, see Appendix III, Table II. 
66 De Tocqueville, i, 413. 



I70 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Chatterton,^^ 'the marvelous boy 'of Bristol, was 
born in 1752. He was the son of a drunken school- 
master and a descendant of a line of sextons a century 
and a half long. Brought up in the shadow of the 
Church of St. Mary Redcliflfe, a dreamy, secretive lad, 
delighting in heraldry, blackletter manuscripts and 
local antiquities, at the age of sixteen he brought forth 
a series of pseudo-antique poems, which, at first, 
deceived the very elect. Although taught but little 
and with straitened means, there rose up before the 
eye of his fancy the mediaeval walls and towers of 
his native town. To obtain evidence for his imag- 
inings, a monkish pseudonym was adopted. The 
document, which he sent to Horace Walpole, bore 
the title, ' The Ryse of Peyncteynge in Englande, 
Wroten by T. Rowleie, 1469, for Master Cany nge.'^ 
Walpole was interested but not taken in; the 
dubious authorship of the Ossianic poems was still 
in his mind. Meanwhile the critical authorities 
showed up the skilful forgery, but others were 
gullible; the Bristol historian accepted Chatterton's 
fiction for fact, and there sprung up a group of 
clerical admirers who dabbled in the antique.*® As 

6'^ Compare Henry S. Beers, * A History of English Romanticism 
in the Eighteenth Century/ 1899, Chapter x; also David Masson 
* Chatterton/ 190 1. 

«8T. H. Ward, 'The English Poets,' 1891, 3, 400. 

69 Compare the second edition of the Antiques y 1783, by Dean 
Milles of Exeter, and of the Society of Antiquaries, in which • the 
genuineness of their antiquity was considered and defended.' 



THE AUTHOR'S MENTALITY 171 

to the literary value of the works * wroten by T. 
Rowleie ' and of the * account written by the hand 
of Mormon/ comparisons are odious; yet the com- 
ing forth of both arose under somewhat like condi- 
tions. In the days of each young pseudologist, the 
literature of disguise was rife. Chatterton was 
preceded by Walpole's pseudonymus Castle of 
OtrantOy by the Reliques called Percy's, by McPher- 
son's Fingaly and other poems attributed to ancient 
Scottish bards. 

And such, in relative measure were the surround- 
ings of the translator of the 'Plates of Nephi.' 
What happened in Britain was happening here. By 
his Knickerbocker History of New York, Wash- 
ington Irving was showing to Anglo-Americans of 
culture how honey could be brought forth out of the 
dead lion. The Philistines also had their riddles. 
The puritanic who eschewed novels, were yet 
devouring romances. In Massachusetts a parch- 
ment inscribed with Hebrew characters, being dug 
up on an ' Indian hill ' was accepted as an ' Indian 
Bible,' ^° although scoffers pronounced it the 
phylactery of some wandering Jew of a peddlar. 
In New York state Priest's American Antiquities 
went through three editions in one year,^^ while 
rumors of a 'Canada Gold Bible' flew over the 

'0 H. II. Bancroft, * Works,' 5, 89 ; compare also P. P. Pratt, p. 1 16. 
'1 ' Bibliotheca Americana,' 15, 85. 



172 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

border." Finally in Ohio the Reverend Solomon 
Spaulding's romance of ancient America, entitled a 
' Manuscript Found/ was creating some stir. 

How far did Joseph Smith fasten on this literary 
driftwood, as it floated on the current of the times ? 
It is here unnecessary to follow the ebb and flow of 
the tide of speculation. In spite of a continuous 
stream of conjectural literature, it is as yet impossible 
to pick out any special document as an original 
source of the Book of Mormon. In particular, the 
commonly accepted Spaulding theory is insoluble 
from external evidence and disproved by internal 
evidence." Joseph Smith's * Record of the Indians ' is 
a product indigenous to the New York 'Wilderness,' 
and the authentic work of its 'author and proprietor.' 
Outwardly, it reflects the local color of Palmyra and 
Manchester, inwardly, its complex of thought is a 
replica of Smith's muddled brain. This monument 
of misplaced energy was possible to the impression- 
able youth constituted and circumstanced as he was. 
The acts of Nephi are indeed the acts of Joseph : — 
'and upon the plates which I made, I did engraven 
the record of my father, and also of our journeyings 
in the wilderness, and the prophecies of my father; 
and also many of my own prophecies have I en- 
graven upon them.' 

72 Schroeder, p. 55. 
" See Appendix III. 



THE AUTHOR'S MENTALITY 173 

It is now in order to trace the public execution of 
the scheme, — from the first inkling of the plates in 
1823 to the thrice-repeated prophecy of 1829, that 
' a great and marvelous work is about to come forth 
among the children of men.' 



CHAPTER VI 
PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 



CHAPTER VI 

PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 

The name of author and proprietor of the Book of 
Mormon was inadvertently assumed and quickly 
discarded. The title of prophet, seer and revelator 
was a growth/ Joseph's first prophecy, at the age 
of eighteen, concerned Deacon Jessup and the 
widow's cow;* his last revelation, called the 
Appendix, concerned the second advent.' In their 
variety Smith's prophetic utterances comprised 
items on the Ancient of days, Boarding-houses, 
Celestial glory, the Day of vengeance, Emma Smith, 
Far West City, — and so on through the alphabet. 
As head of the church. Smith once said, ' We never 
enquire at the hand of God for special revelation 
only in case of there being no previous revelation 
to suit the case.' * The acceptance of these allocu- 
tions among his followers passes all understanding, 

1 * Book of Commandments,* Chapter xxii, April 6th, 1830. — 
« Thou shalt be called a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle, an 
elder. 

''Biographical Sketches,' p. 91. 

•* Doctrine and Covenants,' § 133. 

*« Times and Seasons,' 5, 753. 

177 



178 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

unless their notions and crotchets are taken into 
account. Among them there was an underlying 
belief in the predictive and oracular. Thus Daniel 
Tyler said that his grandfather prophesied that his 
father would live to see the true church organized; 
and he himself joined the Latter-day Saints, because 
it was predicted that he should become a preacher 
of the gospel.^ Wilford Woodruff revolts at the 
assertions of his Presbyterian friends that there are 
to be no more prophecies and revelations. In his 
perturbation he walks by the sea and receives * the 
sign of the prophet Jonah : a large fish rises near the 
shore and looks at him with penetrating eye.' ^ He 
allies himself to Joseph the wonder-worker because 
of what old prophet Mason had predicted, years 
before, about the restoration of primitive gifts. 

Joseph succeeded in his vaticinations because the 
ground was prepared ; his was a prophetic neighbor- 
hood. Jemima Wilkinson, the Sibyl of Crooked 
Lake, was not disturbed in her mouthings, since 
she advertised the region opened up by Phelps and 
Gorham.^ The Shakers, in Wayne County, were 
uttering millennial warnings.® More rabid Miller- 
arians infested the parts around Rochester, although 

6* Leaves from my Journal,* pp. i, 44. 

6 * Scraps of Biography,* pp. 21, 22. 

7 J. M. Parke, * Rochester,' 1884. 

8 « Millennial Church, or United Society of Believers,* Albany, 
1823. 



PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 179 

it was not until October 25th, 1844, that the 
followers of Miller took a red aurora for the final 
conflagration, and gathered in their ascension robes 
to meet the last day.* But the Mormon prophet did 
not make the mistake of selecting a date for the end 
of the world. ^^ His eschatology possessed an air of 
practicality. His millennium was, on the whole, 
marked by such an indefinite immediateness that 
there was little to criticize. He gives this confi- 
dential statement: — 

* I was once praying very earnestly to know the 
time of the coming of the Son of Man, when I 
heard a voice repeat the following : — 

* Joseph, my son, if thou livest until thou art 
eighty-five years old, thou shalt see the face of 
the Son of Man : therefore let this suffice, and 
trouble me no more on this matter.* 

I was left thus, without being able to decide 
whether this coming referred to the beginning 
of the millennium or to some previous appear- 
ing, or whether I should die and thus see His 
face.'" 

Apostle Pratt, who derided the Millerites and their 
dates, asserted that ' Joseph Smith never was mis- 



» Parke, pp. 251-3. 

10 William Miller, « Evidence of the Second Coming of Christ 
about the year 1843/ Troy, 1836. 

11 i Doctrine and Covenants,' § 130. 



i8o THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

taken in his revelations." Unfortunately ten years 
before this Smith had made his classic blunder in 
telling Bishop Whitney to go to New York, Albany 
and Boston, and 'warn the people of those cities 
that the hour of their judgment is nigh/^' But in 
general as a prophet of woe, Joseph's forebodings 
were well timed ; he had learned when to get on 
the bear side of the millennial market. Thus, the 
persecutions of the Latter-day church and the gen- 
eral financial depression were coincident with this 
announcement : — 

* Hearken, O ye people of my church, the 
voice of warning shall be unto all people, by 
the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen 
in these last days. 

And they shall go forth and none shall stay 
them, for I the Lord have commanded them. 

Behold, this is mine authority, and the au- 
thority of my servants, and my Preface unto 

"'Times and Seasons,* 5, 655. Smith's followers, at this time, 
showed less sense than he; thus Martin Harris prophesied: — 
•Within four years from September, 1832, there will not be one 
wicked person left in the United States ; that the righteous will be 
gathered to Zion (Missouri), and that there will be no President 
over these United States after that time. Second : I do hereby 
assert and declare that within four years from the date hereof, 
every sectarian and religious denomination in the United States 
shall be broken down, and every Christian shall be gathered unto 
the Mormonites, and the rest of the human race shall perish. If 
these things do not take place, I will hereby consent to have my 
hands separated from my body.' 

13 < Doctrine and Covenants,'' g 84. 



PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR i8i 

the Book of my Commandments, which I have 
given them to publish unto you, O inhabitants 
of the earth : — 

Wherefore, fear and tremble, O ye people, for 
what I the Lord have decreed, in them, shall be 
fulfilled; 

And verily, I say unto you, that they who go 
forth, bearing these tidings unto the inhabitants 
of the earth, to them is power given, to seal 
both on earth and in heaven, the unbelieving 
and rebellious ; 

Yea, verily, to seal them up unto the day 
when the wrath of God shall be poured out 
upon the wicked, without measure ; 

Unto the day when the Lord shall come to 
recompense unto every man according to his 
work, and measure to every man according to 
the measure which he has measured to his fel- 
low man. 

Wherefore the voice of the Lord is unto the 
ends of the earth, that all that will hear may 
hear: 

Prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to 
come, for the Lord is nigh ; 

And the anger of the Lord is kindled, and 
his sword is bathed in heaven, and it shall fall 
upon the inhabitants of the earth ; 

Wherefore I the Lord, knowing the calamity 
which should come upon the inhabitants of the 
earth, called upon my servant Joseph.* ^* 

^* * Book of Commandments/ Chapter i. For the orthodox view 
of these coincidences, compare * Joseph the Seer,* p. 191: — *The 
persecutions of 1838, in Missouri, were clearly set forth in a 



1 82 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

The voice of warning to all people was accom- 
panied with promises of comfort to the Saints. In 
January, 1831, there came this message : 'Behold 
the enemy is combined, fear not for the kingdom is 
yours and I hold forth and deign to give unto you 
greater riches, even the land of promise ; and that 
ye might escape the power of the enemy, I gave 
unto you the commandment, that ye should go to 
the Ohio/" 

The spiritual timeliness of the early oracles is in 
marked contrast to the unedifying defmiteness of 
the later covenants and commandments. One ex- 
ception should be noted. A month before the 
founding of the Church * a commandment, of God 
and not of man,' was given to Martin Harris. In 
this it was said : *Thou shalt not covet thine own 
property, but impart it freely to the printing of the 
Book of Mormon. Pay the printer's debt. Misery 
thou shalt receive, if thou wilt slight these coun- 

prophecy given through Joseph Smith, at Kirtland, Ohio, July 
23d, 1837, one year and more before the persecution occurred. 
See < Doctrine and Covenants,* 105 : 9. It reads : * Verily, verily, 
I say unto you, darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the 
minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my 
face. Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of 
the earth — a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, 
of weeping, of mourning, of lamentation — and as a whirlwind it 
shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord. And 
upon my house [the church] shall it begin, and from my house 
shall it go forth, saith the Lord.* 

>5 < Book of Commandments,' Chapter 40, 



PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 183 

sels.* '" As time went on the personal equation and 
the dollar mark became more conspicuous. On 
April 26th, 1832, a month after being tarred and 
feathered by a mob, Joseph received the message be- 
ginning, * the anger of God kindleth against the in- 
habitants of the earth/ On January 19th, 1841, at 
Nauvoo, this advice reached the ears of the prophet : 

' And novs^ I say unto you, as pertaining to my 
boarding house w^hich I have commanded you to 
build for the boarding of strangers, let it be built 
unto my name, and let my name be named upon it, 
and let my servant Joseph, and his house have place 
therein, from generation to generation/ ''^ 

The Saints have attempted to relieve the bathos of 
Joseph's revelations,'' by quoting the so-called 



16 < Book of Commandments,' Chapter i6. 

IT* Doctrine and Covenants,' § 124. Compare the last revela- 
tion in the * Book of Commandments,' Chapter 45 : — < I willeth 
not that my servant Frederick should sell his farm, for I the Lord 
willeth to retain a strong hold in the land of Kirtland.' 

18 Compare 'Joseph the Seer,' p. 185 : — < There is an abundance 
of documentary evidence of the genuineness of the revelation 
showing that it was in existence — in print — as early as 185 1, nine 
years before the rebellion. Mr. Beadle in his work against the 
Mormons states that he copied it out of The Seer, a work published 
by O. Pratt, in Washington, D. C, in 1853, seven years before the 
rebellion. And Mr. John Hyde who wrote a work against the 
Mormons entitled " Mormonism," which was issued by Fetridge & 
Co., of New York City, in 1857, cites this same revelation on p. 
174, and he did it in order to prove that Joseph was a false 
prophet: 



1 84 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

' Prophecy of the Rebellion.* It is indeed a remark- 
able forecast/^ but its authenticity is dubious. The 
most specific revelation of this kind written by 
Joseph, occurred as early as March, 1831, but it is 
more pertinent to Armageddon than the Civil War: 

19 < Revelation and Prophecy on War,* given through * Joseph the 
Seer,* December 25th, 1832 : — Verily, thus saith the Lord, con- 
cerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the 
rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the 
death and misery of many souls. 

The days will come that war will be poured out upon all na- 
tions, beginning at that place. 

For behold, the Southern States shall be divided against the 
Northern States, and the Southern States will call on other nations, 
even the nation of Great Britain, as it is called, and they shall also 
call upon other nations, in order to defend themselves against other 
nations ; and thus war shall be poured out upon all nations. 

And it shall come to pass, after many days, slaves shall rise up 
against their masters, who shall be marshaled and disciplined for 
war: 

And it came to pass also, that the remnants who are left of the 
land will marshal themselves, and shall become exceedingly angry, 
and shall vex the Gentiles with a sore vexation ; 

And thus, with the sword, and by bloodshed, the inhabitants of 
the earth shall mourn ; and with famine, and plague, and earth- 
quakes, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid light- 
ning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the 
wrath, and indignation and chastening hand of an Almighty God, 
until the consumption decreed, hath made a full end of all 
nations ; 

That the cry of the Saints, and of the blood of the Saints, shall 
cease to come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, from the 
earth, to be avenged of their enemies. 

Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the 
day of the Lord come ; for behold it cometh quickly, saith the 
Lord. Amen.* 



PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 185 

— 'ye hear of wars in foreign lands, but behold I say 
unto you they are nigh even unto your doors, and 
not many years hence ye shall hear of wars in your 
own lands/" 

To turn to Smith's doings as a seer: here was the 
first of his dabblings with the occult. How far the 
'wonderful power' of 'Peep-stone Joe' was 
fictitious, how far due to unconscious self-sugges- 
tion it is hard to decide. The statements of his 
followers make his actions mystic; the statements 
of his family suggest the hypnotic; his own de- 
scription of the Urim and Thummim as ' like unto 

20* Book of Commandments,' Chapter 48, copied from an 
original copy in the Berrian collection. As regards the Prophecy 
of the Rebellion in both its enlarged and original form, the 
following dates should be noted. Smith was killed June 27, 
1844. In the * History of Joseph Smith,' in the * Times and Sea- 
sons ' of November i, 1844, a reference to President Jackson's 
proclamation of 1832, against the South Carolina Nullifiers is in- 
serted between Smith's revelations of December 6, 1832 and De- 
cember 27, 1832. The alleged revelation of December 25th is 
significantly omitted. Again, this latter revelation does not occur 
in the first and only edition of the * Book of Commandments, ' 
(1833) nor even in the third edition of the * Doctrine and Cove- 
nants ' (1845). ^^^ same is true of the shorter revelation of 
April 2, 1843, as given in * Doctrine and Covenants,' § 140, (later 
editions than 1845) • — 

* I prophesy, in the name of the Lord God, that the commence- 
ment of the difficulties which will cause much bloodshed previous 
to the coming of the Son of Man will be in South Carolina. It 
may probably arise through the slave question. This a voice de- 
clared to me, while I was praying earnestly on the subject, De- 
cember 52th, 1832.' 



1 86 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

crystal ' at once suggests that he was an inadvertent 
crystal gazer. Although his psychoses may be put 
in terms of present day experiment, his own 
notions must be traced to his historic setting. His 
contemporaries were anachronisms; belief in divina- 
tion,— both through 'second sight' and the 'shew 
stone ' — was brought over in the Mayflower along 
with other antique mental furniture." Without har- 
king back to old-world superstitions," it is a fact that 
divining rods and seer stones were still used to find 
springs and locate hidden treasures in the rural 
districts of America. Especially did money diggers 
from Cape Cod to Lake Erie have their tales and 
fables. So Joseph's father was a firm believer in 

3> Edward Eggleston, « The Transit of Civilization from England 
to America in the Seventeenth Century,' New York, 1901, Chapter 
I. Mental Outfit of the Early Colonists. Also Joseph Jastrow, 
' Fact and Fable in Psychology,' Boston, 1900, p. 224. 

22 Albert Moll, < Hypnotism,' New York, 1 901, pp. i, 2. <The 
fact that particular psychical states can be induced in human 
beings by certain physical processes has long been known among 
the Oriental peoples, and was utilized by them for religious pur- 
poses. Kiesewetter attributes the early soothsaying by means of 
precious stones to hypnosis, which was induced by steadily gazing 
at the stones. This is also true of divination by looking into 
vessels and crystals, as the Egyptians have long been in the habit 
of doing, and as has often been done in Europe : by Cagliostro, 
for example. These hypnotic phenomena are also found to have 
existed several thousand years ago among the Persian magi 
(Fischer), as well as up to the present day among Indian yogis and 
fakirs, who throw themselves into the hypnotic state by means of 
fixation of the gaze.' 



PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 187 

witchcraft and other supernatural things, and Joseph 
himself refers to the divining rod as the rod of 
nature and informs his friend Cowdery * behold 
there is no other power save God, that can cause 
this rod of nature to work in your hands, for it is 
the work of God/'' 

The very charges against the Smiths betrayed the 
credulity of the times. The ' seeing-stone' with 
which Joseph is alleged to have sought for the 
Susquehanna silver mine, had previously been used 
in attempts to trace a lost child.'* As if it were a 

" ' Book of Commandments,' Chapter 7. 

** E. C. Blackman, * History of Susquehanna County, Pa.,' 1873, p. 
477 : — Mr. J. B. Buck narrates the following : — * Joe Smith was here 
lumbering soon after my marriage, which was in 1818, some years 
before he took to " peeping," and before diggings were commenced 
under his direction. These were ideas he gained later. The 
stone which he afterwards used was then in the possession of Jack 
Belcher, of Gibson, who obtained it while at Salina, New York, 
engaged in drawing salt Belcher bought it because it was said to 
be " a seeing stone." I have often seen it. It was a green stone, 
with brown, irregular spots on it. It was a little longer than a 
goose's egg, and about the same thickness. When he brought it 
home and covered it with a hat. Belcher's little boy was one of the 
first to look into the hat, and as he did so he said he saw a candle. 
The second time he looked in he exclaimed, " I've found my 
hatchet ! " — (it had been lost two years) — and immediately ran for 
it to the spot shown him through the stone, and it was there. The 
boy was soon beset by neighbors far and near to reveal to them 
hidden things, and he succeeded marvelously. Even the wander- 
ings of a lost child were traced by him — the distracted parents 
coming to him three times for directions, and in each case finding 
signs that the child had been in the places he designated, but at 



1 88 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

recrudescence of fetish worship, stones of strange 
shape or peculiar markings were highly prized, as 
well as those of a mysterious origin. An existing 
Mormon seer stone, from Missouri, is nothing but 
an Indian slate gorget. ^^ Three generations ago 
there seems to have been only an inkling of the 
truth, that the 'influence' was to be attributed 
rather to the person seeing than to the object, to 
the seer rather than to the stone. 

Joseph's own neighbors were particularly in the 
dark; one Willard Chase sent sixty or seventy miles 
for a certain conjurer; Chase's sister found a green 
glass through which she could see very many won- 
derful things.'^ Whether this was the identical stone 
which Joseph used is conjectural and immaterial," 
although there is new information on the point.'® 

last it was found starved to death. Joe Smith, conceiving the idea 
of making a fortune through a similar process of " seeing," bought 
the stone of Belcher and then began his operations in directing 
where hidden treasures could be found. His first diggings were 
near Captain Buck's sawmill, at Red Rock ; but, because his fol- 
lowers broke the rule of silence^ " the enchantment removed the 
deposits." ' 

25 Compare Figure 24, p. 650, * Handbook of Reference,' United 
States National Museum, 1888. 

26 < Biographical Sketches,' pp. 106, 109. 

27 Martin Harris in an interview, in January, 1 859, said that 
Joseph's stone was dug from the well of Mason Chase. Tiffany^ s 
Monthly, May, 1859. 

28 « On the request of the court, he [Joseph, junior] exhibited the 
stone. It was about the size of a small hen's egg, in the shape of * 



PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 189 

How early he stumbled on the discovery of his 
' gift ' is more important.'^ His father testified that, 
when a lad, * Joseph heard of a neighboring girl, 
who could look into a glass and see anything how- 
ever hidden from others. He looked into this glass 
which was placed in a hat to exclude the light. He 
was greatly surprised to see but one thing, which 
was a small stone, a great way off. It soon became 
luminous and dazzled his eyes, and after a short time 
it became as intense as the midday sun. . . . 
He often had an opportunity to look in the glass, and 
with the same result. The luminous stone alone 
attracted his attention.' ^ 

By 1825, Joseph's fame as a 'peeper' was wide- 
spread. Josiah Stoal came from Chenango County 
to get Joseph's 'assistance in digging for a silver 
mine, on account of having heard that he possessed 

high instepped shoe. It was composed of layers of different colors 
passing diagonally through it. . . . Joseph Smith, senior, was 
present, and was sworn as a witness. He confirmed at great length 
all that his son had said in his examination. . . . He described 
very many instances of his finding hidden and stolen goods.* From 
W. D. Purple, manuscript editorial in Norwich, N. Y. Union^ April 
28, 1877. Purple took notes at the trial of Joseph Smith, senior, in 
February, 1826, at South Bainbridge, Pa., before Albert Neeley, 

J. p. 

» The story that Joseph's « gift ' was * Scotch second sight ' is 
well found but not true ; his ancestry was English. 

30 W. D. Purple. Compare also « Book of Mormon,' p. 328. 
The stone called Gazelem * a stone which shineth forth in darkness 
unto light.' 



190 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

certain keys, by which he could discern things in- 
visible to the natural eye/'^^ 

So far the youthful seer had been using a trans- 
lucent quartz pebble such as was to be found in the 
glacial drift of western New York. In September, 
1827, he procured his 'interpreters/ These he him- 
self described as two transparent stones/'* and his 
mother as three-cornered diamonds, which he kept 
constantly about his person.'' If one may hazard a 
guess, these 'curious instruments, called by the 
ancients the Urim and Thummim,"* were probably 
a couple of prisms from an old-fashioned chandelier. 
Whatever the object, the purpose was the same, — 
to produce a condition suitable for the * seeing of 
visions.' What this condition really was, Joseph 
knew as little as the Specularii of old. But that 
many people hypnotize themselves,'^ without know- 
ing it, is as true as that Monsieur Jourdain had been 
speaking prose all his life, without knowing it. 

Since the classic experiments of Braid, the Man- 
chester surgeon, the means of producing hypnosis 
are too well known to need description: in a likely 
subject, steady gazing at anything from a teapot to 
the tip of the nose will induce the primary state of 

»i * Biographical Sketches/ p. 92. 
55 « Times and Seasons,* 3, 707. 
*3 * Biographical Sketches,* p. 106. 
34 • Joseph Smith the Seer,* p. 19. 
s» Moll, p. 389. 



PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 191 

reverie. Of the scientific procedure Joseph, of course, 
was absolutely ignorant, yet his method of ' glass- 
looking,' was, in fact, one of the easiest ways of pro- 
ducing slight hypnotization, namely that by sensorial 
excitement. He did not need strong or luminous 
rays, but only that slight and prolonged excitement, 
gained by fixing the eyes on an object, brilliant or 
otherwise, placed near the eyes.^^ Unlike some of 
his followers Joseph does not seem to have been es- 
pecially liable to what they denominated the ' open 
vision.' " His was not the rarer type of person, who 

w Alfred Binet and Charles F6r6, * Animal Magnetism,* New 
York, 1898, p. 93. 

'7 'Times and Seasons,' 5, 66i. Two instances of the 'open 
vision * with attendant hallucinations, somewhat similar to Joseph's 
visions of the plates are as follows : < Faith Promoting Series,' num- 
ber 12, p. 79. Amasa Potter, in Picton, Australia, in 1856, said, 
<At meeting after speaking a few words I became dumb, — 
when I thought I saw several lines of large letters printed on the 
walls of the house, and I commenced to read them and spoke 
about one hour. When the letters faded from my sight, I then 
stopped speaking. I could not tell all that I had said ; but my 
companion told me it was an excellent discourse/ .... 
Littlefield, in his * Reminiscences,* p. 203, gives this account of an 
experience of July 13, 1848, on the ship < Forest Monarch,* from New 
York, in a fierce Atlantic storm : * At 12 o'clock A. M. ... I 
was clinging with both arms clasped tightly around a post. . . . 
While in this position a panorama of my life passed in review be- 
fore me. Two or three words, as if shaped in letters of burnished 
gold or written by flames of fire, were presented. These words 
were so chosen as to be indicative of some unwise act or sinful 
deed. They would remain there, undiminished in brightness, un- 
til I had earnestly and humbly implored forgiveness. . . . 



192 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

can call up the hallucinative image, spontaneously 
and while awake. His acts, as a seer, required time, 
preparation and some apparatus. An eyewitness 
thus describes his methods: * At times when Brother 
Joseph would attempt to translate, he would look 
into the hat in which the stone was placed, he 
found he was spiritually blind and could not 
translate. He told us that his mind dwelt too 
much on earthly things, and various causes would 
make him incapable of proceeding with the trans- 
lation. When in this condition he would go out 
and pray, and when he became suflFiciently hum- 
ble before God, he could then proceed with the 
translation. Now we see how very strict the Lord is ; 
and how He requires the heart of man to be just right 
in His sight, before he can receive revelation from 
Him.'« 

These fluctuations in the psychological moment — 
really due to a restless temperament — were inter- 
preted as due to the alternate granting and with- 
drawal of the ' gift.' '^ For this reason, there is little 

When I had duly repented, that set of words would pass away and 
others take their place, until mental restitution was made as before. 
These manifestations continued to alternate for a time and then 
passed away.* 

38 David Whitmer, * Address,* p. 30. 

39 Compare * Book of Commandments,* p. 13. A Revelation, 
May, 1829, after the loss of the 1 16 pages of manuscript — * you also 
lost your gift at the same time, nevertheless it has also been re- 
stored unto you again.* 



PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 193 

doubt that Joseph, at least at the start, considered his 
' translations ' to be inspired. For all that, his mystic 
writings may be resolved into their elements of Bible 
knowledge, petty information and every-day exper- 
ience. It is curious and noteworthy to trace the 
workings of the seer's imagination in the lather of 
words given by his devotee: ' I will now give you 
a description of the manner in which the Book of 
Mormon was translated. Joseph Smith would put 
the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, 
drawing it closely around his face to exclude the 
light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would 
shine. A piece of something resembling parchment 
would appear, and on that appeared the writing. 
One character at a time would appear, and under it 
was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph 
would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who 
was his principal scribe, and when it was written 
down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was 
correct, then it would disappear, and another charac- 
ter with the interpretation would appear. Thus the 
Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and 
power of God, and not by any power of man.'*° 

That the Book of Mormon was an imaginative 
elaboration of presentative material, is corroborated 
by this account of its mystic genesis. Joseph's 
process of translating by means of his Urim and 

40 Whitmer, p. 12. 



194 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Thummim*^ may be compared with a recent ex- 
perimental study of visions/^ Although artificially 
produced they resolved themselves mainly into 
natural sources, namely, — v^hat had been previously 
seen, heard, read and thought, besides representa- 
tions and revivals of the experience of the hyp- 
notic personality of which the waking conscious- 
ness has never had knowledge. 

All this is applicable to Joseph's first act of 
'translating/ To those who care to dig below the 
threshold of consciousness, the mystic after-image, 
the recrudescence of the subconscious may be an 
explanation of the alleged Greek and Hebrew letters 
in the transcription of the gold plates. One glance 
at a Bible in the original tongues may have been 
enough to stamp the visual image on the boy's im- 
pressionable mind. This objectification of images, 
which exist unconsciously in the memory, is a fact 
in dreams and a likely surmise as to the analogous 
phenomena of semi-hypnosis. Whatever the ex- 
planation, the fact is this, — ^Joseph the seer was a 
good visualizer.*' 

*^ In * Times and Seasons,* 3, 707, Smith gave this fabulous ac- 
count : — * With the records was found a curious instrument which 
the ancients called " Urim and Thummim,'* which consisted of two 
transparent stones set in the rim of a bow fastened to a breastplate. 
Through the medium of the Urim and Thummim I translated the 
record by the gift and power of God.* 

42 Brain, 21, 528. 

^ Joseph's case is curiously like that of a present day sceptic, 



PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 195 

Smith's method was so far the commonplace 
method of the trance-medium. The act of fixing 
the eyes on one particular point, supplemented by a 
state of quietude through prayer, prepared the way 
for the influence of self-suggestion. His external 
acts are one thing, the subtle and self-deceiving 
nature of his hallucinations another. He knew no 
more about the subconscious self and the law of 
association of ideas, than he did of the fact that his 
'Reformed Egyptian' resembled the irregular and 
spasmodic writings of hypnotic subjects. Now that 
the transcription of the gold plates is a veritable 
piece of automatic writing, is evident from a com- 

who was once an esoteric mystic. It was Alfred Le Baron who 
claimed he could see * sentences in English characters among a 
number of ideographs on an Egyptian slab of stone/ * Proceedings 
of the Society for Psychical Research,' 12, 287. — This analogy may 
be taken for what it is worth. One can prove anything from these 
modern dabblings in the occult. In the same way, care should be 
taken in the application of the hypnotic principles of the hysterical 
school of Charcot. As has been said regarding the choice of hys- 
terical patients, * Take care, or you will find what you are looking 
for.* If emphasis is laid on the abnormal side of Joseph Smith's 
case, his states resemble the not uncommon condition found among 
hystero-epileptics. As the physiology of the subject is admittedly 
obscure, in this study, the more normal principles of the suggestion 
school of Nancy are chiefly utilized. Parsimony demands that the 
hypnotic aspects of the Mormons should be explained as mental, 
rather than physical reflexes. Yet, as for Smith himself, the sub- 
ject is complex and demands compromise ; on the one hand, his 
self-induced states of hypnosis were synchronous with his youthful 
ill health ; on the other hand, his suggestive influence over others 
began soon after his quasi-epileptic seizures ceased. 



196 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

parison of the reproduction of the * Caractors ' with 
modern experimental scrawlings. An attempt of a 
patient, in a semi-hypnotic state, through planchette 
or a pencil held loosely in the hands, will show 
equally mysterious figures and back-handed signa- 
tures.** 

The relation of Joseph's crystal gazing to the com- 
position of the Book of Mormon, brings more im- 
portant information. It furnishes an explanation of 
certain peculiarities in the text. The style of the 
ancient prophet Mormon is the style of the modern 
spiritualist. The lack of punctuation may be laid 
to the fact of dictation, but the slips in grammar 
and the endless repetition of such phrases as * came 
to pass,' resemble the painfiil errors and damnable 
iteration of messages from the unseen world.** 

Furthermore, the length and complexity of the 
Book of Mormon is rendered additionally possible, if 
one cares to believe the assertion, that hypnotic sug- 
gestion arouses into activity the dormant psychic 
power, — brings to the subject's fingers' ends all the 
knowledge that he has ever had, and, finally, in- 

^^ Moll, p. 267. 

<* At a spiritualistic seance of a Boston medium, in 1900, I no- 
ticed a marked difference between the normal and trance states. 
The set speeches, evidently learned by heart, were Johnsonian in 
their correctness, but the messages from the departed in their gram- 
matical lapses and turns of expression betrayed the rustic origin of 
the seeress. 



PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 197 

spires him with an overwhelming confidence in 
himself.*^ 

Was it hyperaesthesia or hard work that evolved 
the Record of the Nephites ? To those who neither 
hanker after theories of the subliminal self/^ nor be- 
lieve that the Book of Mormon required any quick- 
ening of the intellect,*^ the author's crystal gazing 
may yet have important relations to his writings. 
At the least, it was a moving cause of the acts of 
his disciples. Because of their magical guise, his 
associates believed that they were bound to take 
down their seer's every utterance; consequently, 
they gave him abundant help. Emma Smith con- 
fessed that she wrote at her husband's dictation 
day after day;*® while Christian Whitmer and 



<6 Compare R. O. Mason, < Telepathy and the Subliminal Self,* 
New York, 1896, p. 78. 

^T * Harvard Psychological Studies,' September, 1896. Experi- 
menters succeeded in reproducing in a waking state of complete 
normality, the first three essential elements of the second person- 
ality, viz. : — I. General tendency to movement without conscious 
motor impulse ; 2. Tendency of an idea in the mind to go over into 
a movement involuntarily and unconsciously ; 3. Tendency of a 
sensory current to pass over into a motor reaction subconsciously ; 
4. Unconscious exercise of memory and invention. 

^ Moll, p. 268. * The automatic hand writes without concentra- 
tion of thought on the writer's part.* 

49 Wyle, * Mormon Portraits,* p. 203. Statement of Emma Hale 
Smith to her son. * In writing for your father I frequently wrote 
day after day, often sitting at the table close by him, he sitting with 
his face buried in his hat with the stone in it.* 



198 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Oliver Cowdery were his scribes for seven solid 
months.*^ 

To Joseph's performances as a seer, the usual 
clairvoyant and telepathic embellishments v^ere 
added. Martin Harris said that Joseph proposed to 
bind his ' directors ' on his eyes and run a race with 
him in the woods.*^ David Whitmer avowed that 
this was the same stone used by the Jaredites at 
Babel. He relates that he could see nothing through 
it, but that Joseph, placing it to his eyes, could read 
signs one hundred and sixty miles distant, and tell 
exactly what was transpiring there. He then adds 
the statement:— 'When I went to Harmony after 
him, he told me the name of every hotel at which 1 
had stopped on the road, read the signs, and de- 
scribed various scenes without having ever received 
any information from me/" 

The most marvelous occurrence is one that is 
said to have happened about June, 1829. Joseph's 

«o The actual writing of the * Book of Mormon * appears to have 
taken about seven months. (December, 1827-February, 1828; 
April 12- June 14, 1828; April 7-June 11, 1829.) Taking the 
first edition as 588 printed pages, this gives an average of between 
two and three pages a day. 

6» Tiffany's Monthly ^ May, 1859. Compare 'Joseph Smith the 
Seer,* p. 19. — * With the records was found a curious instrument, 
called by the ancients the Urim and Thummim. This was in use in 
ancient times by persons called seers. It was an instrument by the 
use of which they received revelation of things distant, or of things 
past or future.* 

"'Address,' p. II. 



PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 199 

mother recounts that, as he was translating by 
means of the Urim and Thummim, he received, 

* instead of the words of the Book, a command- 
ment to write a letter to a man by the name of 
David Whitmer, who lived in Waterloo, requesting 
him to come immediately with his team, and con- 
vey himself and Oliver to his own residence, as an 
evil-designing people were seeking to take away 
his (Joseph's) life, in order to prevent the work of 
God from going forth to the world.^ 

Of these three occurrences comment is almost 
superfluous. The running blindfolded is not said to 
have taken place; if it had, it could be compared to 
the heightened sense-perception of the hypnotic 
subject, when he walks about a room with bandaged 
eyes, or in absolute darkness, without striking 
against anything/* Again Joseph's reading inn- 
signs, miles away, is no proof of the dubieties of 
supersensual thought transference.^^ As the added 

63 * Biographical Sketches,* p, 135. 

fi^Moll, p. 115. 

56 On the semi-occult aspects of crystal gazing, compare Frank 
Podmore, 'Apparitions and Thought Transference,' London, 1900, 
p. 352. Other instances among the Mormons of * premonitions,' 

* veridical visions ' and * sympathetic clairvoyance,' are as follows : 
— (I.) P. P. Pratt, * Autobiography,' p. 368, — On June 27, 1844, 
Joseph and Hyrum were killed. I was constrained by the spirit 
a day or so before to start prematurely for home [Nauvoo] without 
knowing why or wherefore. As my brother William and I talked, 
a strange and solemn awe came over me, as if the powers of hell 



200 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

details show, the itinerant seer had traveled the 
same road as his disciple, who took no account of 
Joseph's naturally retentive memory. Lastly the 
form of the letter to the Whitmers, and their ful- 
filling the writer's request implies a previous ac- 

were let loose. I was so overwhelmed with sorrow I could hardly 
speak. This was June 27th, in the afternoon, as near as I can judge 
at the hour Joseph died.* — {2.) In the Nauvoo Neighbor^ March, 
1844, Benjamin Andrews reports a vision at the time the Latter-day 
Saints were driven from Jackson county, Missouri, — * I was at the 
capital of the United States. In the archives of state a man, one 
ot the ancients of the nation, took two or three small boxes and 
said * These were the archives of state, but they are turned to 
blood.* I saw the box turned to blood.* — (3.) B. Brown, 'Testi- 
monies,* p. 12. — * One Sunday morning, while opening the meeting 
with prayer, the gift of tongues came upon me but I quenched the 
Spirit. Immediately another broke out in tongues, of which the 
interpretation was, * the Lord knew we were anxious to learn of 
the affairs of our brethren in Missouri, and that if we would hum- 
ble ourselves, He would reveal unto us.* Missouri was some thou- 
sands of miles from Portland. In a fortnight a letter confirmed 
the message at or about the time of the massacre at Haun*s Mill.' — 
(4.) The same event in Indiana in 1838, was announced by a 
variety of the so-called * simultaneous apparition.* Littlefield, p. 
69, quotes the statement of John Hammer : — * We were standing 
there exactly at the time this bloody butchery was committed and 
of course were all looking eagerly in the direction of the mill. 
While in this attitude a crimson colored vapor, like a mist or thin 
cloud, ascended up from the precise place where we knew the 
mill to be located. This transparent pillar of blood remained 
. ... far into the fatal night. At that hour we had not heard 
a word of what had taken place at the mill, but as quick as my 
mother and aunt saw this red, blood-like token, they commenced 
to wring their hands and moan, declaring they knew that their 
husbands had been murdered.* 



PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 201 

quaintance with that family. In brief, Joseph's 
failures are in accord with the modern failures in 
mental telegraphy, through the medium of crys- 
tals/^ The alleged long-distance messages were 
simply ' reproduced past experiences without recog- 
nition.' Other Mormons may furnish telepathic ex- 
periences, but they are more curious than con- 
vincing. 

Thus far Smith's occult performances meet with 
psychological negation; this is not the result in their 
ethical import, if the inference is allowable. It is 
somewhere in here that the dividing line must be 
drawn between self-deception and conscious du- 
plicity. From the silence in his own writings, as to 
these three episodes, it is evident that the prophet 
and seer did not believe himself an entire success as 
clairvoyant and mind reader. And more than that as 
respects the translating of the plates, there is a sus- 
picion that he early recognized that there was some- 
thing the matter. To his progenitors anything 
preternatural was supernatural; to the prophet the 
supernatural was now merging into the merely ab- 
normal, else he would neither have persevered in his 
methods of obfustication, nor have tried to monopo- 

66 'Society for Psychical Research/ 12, 259. Prof. J. H. Plys- 
lop in < Some Experiments in Crystal Visions,* found ' nothing 
of an apparently telepathic nature or any other kind of supernormal 
psychological experience.' 



202 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

lize the use of the seer-stone,^' nor finally have 
given it up altogether. ^^ The various changes in 
his methods are especially significant. As money 
digger, he v^as wont to hide his face in a hat; as 
translator, he sometimes kept behind a curtain,^^ 
dictating to his scribe on the other side; finally by 
May, 1 83 1, he had a special * translating room' of 
his own.^^ 

There vs^as method in this concealment: it was to 
keep from the sight of his followers the fixed gaze 
and the blank expression of the auto-hypnotic. 
There is here implicated no such mystic paradox as 
that Joseph was conscious of his unconsciousness ; 

*7*Book of Commandments,' Chapter 30: 'Take thy brother 
Hiram Page between him and thee alone, and tell him that those 
things which he hath written from that stone are not of me, and 
that satan deceiveth him : For behold these things have not been 
appointed unto him. Neither shall anything be appointed to any of 
this church.' Compare 'Times and Seasons,' 4, 117-119; also 
• History of the Church,' p. 123. 

58Whitmer, p. 32: — 'After the translation of the "Book of 
Mormon " was finished, early in the spring of 1830, before April 6th, 
Joseph gave the stone to Oliver Cowdery and told me as well as 
the rest that he was through with it, and he did not use the stone 
any more. He said he was through the work that God had given 
him the gift to perform, except to preach the gospel. He told us 
that we would all have to depend on the Holy Ghost hereafter to 
be guided into truth and obtain the will of the Lord. The reve- 
lations after this came through Joseph as " mouthpiece " ; that is, 
he would enquire of the Lord, pray and ask concerning a matter, 
and speak out the revelation.' 

69 Whitmer, p. 10. 

60 « Times and Seasons,* 6, 784. 



PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 203 

if, at the time, the trance-medium does not know 
what he has spoken, he yet knows that he has 
spoken. The light hypnosis is not characterized by 
entire loss of memory. That the prophet, as early 
as 1 83 1, was cognizant of the abnormality of the 
ecstatic condition, is borne out by his disrelish for 
such excesses as those of the Kirtland convulsion- 
ists, their ' wallowing on the ground, their diabolical 
acts of enthusiasm.' Exactly when the personal 
discovery was made is a matter of opinion. It may^v- 
have been with the failure, in October, 1825, to find 
the fabulous silver mine of his father-in-law. It was 
in October, 1825, he relates, that he ' prevailed upon 
the old gentleman to cease digging after it.' ®^ 

«* * Pearl of Great Price,' p. 100. Compare Blackman, • History 
of Susquehanna County, Pa.,' p. 578. (I quote the following affid- 
avit only because I am acquainted with this locality and have 
personal knowledge of the reliability of Charles Dimon. It should 
be noted that Hale's dates differ from Smith's.) 'Statement 
of Isaac Hale. Affirmed to and subscribed before Chas. Dimon, 
J. P., March 20, 1834. The good character of Isaac Hale 
was attested to the following day by Judges Wm. Thomson and 
D. Dimock : — ' I first became acquainted with Joseph Smith, junior, 
in November, 1825. He was at that time in the employ of a set of 
men who were called *« money-diggers," and his occupation was that 
of seeing, or pretending to see, by means of a stone placed in his hat, 
and his hat closed over his face. In this way he pretended to dis- 
cover minerals and hidden treasure. His appearance at this time 
was that of a careless young man, not very well educated, and very 
saucy and insolent to his father. Smith and his father, with several 
other money-diggers, boarded at my house while they were em- 
ployed in digging for a mine that they supposed had been opened 



204 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Subjective 'glass looking* was found to be no 
royal road to objective fortune; but disillusionment 
of self was not the disillusionment of others. 
About four years after this, Joseph saw fit to 
acknowledge, in his own peculiar way, that the 
power of self-suggestion was not confined to him- 
self. In April, 1829, a revelation came to Oliver 
Cowdery: 'behold thou hast a gift, if thou wilt 
inquire, thou shalt know mysteries which are great 
and marvelous.®^ This ' gift ' of Oliver's was shortly 
afterwards explained as a ' key of knowledge con- 
cerning the engravings of old records.* These 
announcements of mutually shared * gifts ' or * keys ' 
form one of the dividing lines in Joseph's career. 
With the discovery that suggestion was a rule that 
worked both ways, he ceased to be a mere self- 
centred visionary, and became in truth a revelator to 
others. Once when his high priests wished to 

and worked by the Spaniards many years since. Young Smith 
gave the money-diggers great encouragement at first, but when 
they had arrived in digging too near the place where he had stated 
an immense treasure would be found, he said the enchantment was 
so powerful that he could not see. They then became discouraged, 
and soon after dispersed. This took place about the 17th of Novem- 
ber, 1825. . . .' I told them, then, that I considered the whole 
of it a delusion, and advised them to abandon it. The manner in 
which he [Joseph] pretended to read and interpret was the same as 
when he looked for the money-diggers, with the stone in his hat, 
and his hat over his face, while the book of plates was at the same 
time hid in the woods.* 

62 « Book of Commandments,* Chapter 5. 



PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 205 

behold * concourses of angels/ as president of the 
church, Smith employed the conventional means of 
inducing the trance vision. There was insistence 
on faith, fasting and prayer, laying on of hands, 
fixity of thought, and rigidity of position.^ 

The origin of Joseph's functions as a revelator is, 
like all origins, rudimentary and somewhat obscure. 
It was, however, natural that the first believers in 
his visualizing powers should be found among his 
kith and kin. What he imagined he saw, he got 
them to imagine they saw. As his mother says of 
him, during the evening conversations, when * he 
would describe the ancient inhabitants of this con- 
tinent, — I presume our family presented an aspect as 
singular as any that ever lived upon the face of the 
earth — all seated in a circle, father, mother, sons, 
and daughters, and giving the most profound atten- 
tion to a boy, eighteen years of age.'^ 

But Joseph's success was not confined to a family 
of constitutional visionaries; his sphere of influence 
soon enlarged. Because he asserted he had seen a 
vision, he was persecuted * by the great ones of the 
most popular sects of the day, and was under the 
necessity of leaving Manchester and going to Penn- 
sylvania.'^ Opposition was what he needed; he 

«» Compare « Times and Seasons,* 5, 738, the events of March 
18. 1833. 

^ * Biographical Sketches,* p. 84. 
«5 * Pearl of Great Price,* p. 102. 



2o6 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

was advertised by his enemies, until his fame as a 
beholder of visions was as wide as his early reputa- 
tion as a * discerner of invisible things/ •• Thus the 
acts of the prophet and seer paved the way for the 
acts of the revelator. Of these latter acts the most 
conspicuous was that of the vision beheld by his 
scribes. It is embodied in this remarkable docu- 
ment accompanying all editions of the Book of 
Mormon : — 

The Testimony of Three Witnesses. 

Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, 
tongues and people, unto whom this work shall 
come, that we, through the grace of God the 
Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen 
the plates which contain this record, which is a 
record of the people of Nephi, and also of the 
Lamanites, his brethren, and also of the people 
of Jared, which came from the tower of which 
hath been spoken ; and we also know that they 
have been translated by the gift and power of 
God, for His voice hath declared it unto us ; 
wherefore we know of a surety, that the work is 
true. And we also testify that we have seen 

*^ * Pearl of Great Price,' p. 102 : — • The excitement, however, 
still continued, and rumor, with her thousand tongues, was all the 
time employed in circulating tales about my father's family, and 
about myself. If I were to relate a thousandth part of them, it 
would fill up volumes. The persecution, however, became so 
intolerable that I was under the necessity of leaving Manchester, 
and going with my wife to Susquehanna County, in the State of 
Pennsylvania.* 



PROPHET, SEER AND REVELATOR 207 

the engravings which are upon the plates ; and 
they have been shewn unto us by the power of 
God, and not of man. And we declare with 
words of soberness, that an Angel of God came 
down from heaven, and he brought and laid 
before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the 
plates, and the engravings thereon; and we 
know that it is by the grace of God the Father, 
and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we beheld and 
bear record that these things are true ; and it 
is marvelous in our eyes. Nevertheless, the 
voice of the Lord commanded us that we 
should bear record of it; wherefore, to be 
obedient unto the commandments of God, we 
bear testimony of these things. And we know 
that if we are faithful in Christ, we shall rid 
our garments of the blood of all men, and be 
found spotless before the judgment seat of 
Christ, and shall dwell with him eternally in 
the heavens. And the honor be to the Father, 
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which 
is one God. Amen. 

Oliver Cowdery, 
David Whitmer, 
Martin Harris. 



CHAPTER VII 
JOSEPH THE OCCULTIST 



CHAPTER VII 

JOSEPH THE OCCULTIST 

The Testimony of Three Witnesses is commonly 
quoted by writers in both camps; the Saints take it 
as proof of divinity/ the scoffers as proof of 
duplicity.^ Quotation is one thing, explanation 
another. If it is used as psychological material, the 
problem is whether the vision was an individual 
hallucination, generated normally by the subject, or 
aroused semi-hypnotically by a second person. 

The latter form of statement may serve as a tent- 
ative hypothesis, but not before the former is ex- 
amined. According to some authorities, ^ halluc- 
inations can be induced, in a normal state of 
consciousness, without hypnosis. As there are 
suggestions in dreams, so are there suggestions in 
the waking state. But here, from the start, is 
manifest the chief phenomenon of hypnosis, — 

^ Compare * Joseph the Seer.* 

« Compare anti-Mormon works beginning with Howe. 

3 Such as Moll, whose attempts to remove hypnotism from the 
realm of the occult is summed up in the statement, p. 254, that 
there is * no new psychical law to be found in hypnosis,' 

211 



212 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

namely that a certain accepted idea leads to a 
mental delusion. More particularly, it is ante- 
cedently probable that this was hypnotic hallucina- 
tion, since there are present the three productive 
factors: susceptibility to suggestion on the part of 
the subject, the effect of expectant attention, and 
previous success, as increasing the principal's in- 
fluence. 

To apply these essentials : all three are found in 
the case of the first witness, Oliver Cowdery. His 
suggestibility is evidenced by his excitement over 
the story of the gold plates, by his belief that it was 
predetermined that he should be Joseph's scribe, 
and lastly by his entire absorption in the project. 
' Shortly after receiving a sketch of the facts rela- 
tive to the plates,' says Mother Smith, *he told Mr. 
Smith that he was highly delighted with what he 
had heard, that he had been in a deep study upon 
the subject all day, and that it was impressed upon 
his mind, that he should yet have the privilege of 
writing for Joseph. On coming in on the following 
day, he said, ''The subject upon which we were 
yesterday conversing seems working in my very 
bones, and I cannot, for a moment, get it out of 
my mind; for I have made it a subject of prayer, 
and firmly believe that it is the will of the Lord that 
1 should go." From this time, Oliver was so com- 
pletely absorbed in the subject of the Record, that 



JOSEPH THE OCCULTIST 213 

it seemed impossible for him to think or converse 
about anything else.'* 

Cowdery's suggestibility was not merely self-in- 
duced, the prophet himself increased that state of 
mind by a long and subtle series of preliminary 
suggestions. He was ignorant of the formula, but 
he knew as a fact the effect of expectant attention. 
Nothing could be more efficient than the cumulative 
revelations now received. In April, 1829, there 
came: — 

'A Revelation to Oliver, when employed a 
scribe to Joseph, — Behold thou hast a gift, and 
blessed art thou because of thy gift. Remember 
it is sacred and cometh from above ; and if thou 
wilt inquire, thou shalt know mysteries which 
are great and marvelous. . . . Verily, 
verily I say unto you, if you desire a further 
witness, cast your mind upon the night that you 
cried unto me in your heart, that you might 
know concerning the truth of these things ; did 
I not speak peace to your mind concerning the 
matter ? . . . Verily, verily I say unto you 
that there are records which contain much of my 
gospel. . . . And now behold I give unto 
you, and also unto my servant Joseph the keys 
of this gift, . . . and in the mouth of two 
or three witnesses, shall every word be es- 
tablished.'* 

4< Biographical Sketches,' pp. 128-9. 
* * Book of Commandments/ Chapter 5. 



214 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

How the master was gaining ascendency over the 
subject is shown by what follows. Under the 
mask of divinity, he now seeks to inspire him with 
a belief in the working of the divining rod, and to 
direct the very course of his thoughts: — 

' Now this is not all, for you have another 
gift, which is the gift of working with the rod : 
behold it has told you things : behold there is 
no other power save God, that can cause this 
rod of nature to work in your hands, for it is 
the work of God ; and therefore whatsoever you 
shall ask me to tell you by that means, that 
will I grant unto you, that you shall know.* 
. . . Behold I say unto you, my son, that, 
because you did not translate according to that 
which you desired of me, • . . Behold you 
have not understood, you have supposed that I 
would give it unto you, when you took no 
thought, save it was to ask me ; 

But, behold, I say unto you, that you must 
study it out in your mind ; then you must ask 
me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause 
that your bosom shall burn within you ; there- 
fore, you shall feel that it is right ; But if it be 
not right, you shall have no such feelings, but 
you shall have a stupor of thought, that shall 
cause you to forget the thing which is wrong ; 
therefore you cannot write that which is sacred, 
save it be given you from me.' ^ 

«* Book of Commandments/ Chapter 7. 
'* Book of Commandments,' Chapter 8. 



JOSEPH THE OCCULTIST 215 

In the meanwhile the subject did not realize the 
degree of his psychic plasticity; this is clear from 
his own statement. In the first of the Letters of 
Oliver Cowdery occurs this passage:— 'Near the 
time of the setting of the sun, Sabbath evening, 
April 5th, 1829, my natural eyes, for the first time 
beheld this brother. He then resided in Harmony, 
Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. On Monday, 
the 6th, I assisted him in arranging some business 
of a temporal nature, and on Tuesday, the 7th, com- 
menced to write the Book of Mormon. These were 
days never to be forgotten — to sit under the sound of 
a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awa- 
kened the utmost gratitude of this bosom. Day 
after day I continued, uninterruptedly to write from 
his mouth, as he translated, with the Urim and 
Thummim, or as the Nephites would have said, 
''Interpreters,*' the history, or record, called the 
Booh of Mormon.* 

The preparatory manipulation of the first witness 
was not yet completed. The longest revelation to 
Oliver opens with the words,—' A great and a mar- 
velous work is about to come forth unto the children 
of men.' ® This was the prophet's scriptural formu- 
lation of the actual principle of expectant attention. 
In the same way, he had a practical, though not a 
technical cognizance of the third factor in the pro- 

8 * Book of Commandments,* Chapter 5. 



2i6 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

duction of hypnosis. His previous success, as in- 
creasing his personal influence, is manifest from 
the following episode. Of the two accounts, the 
matter-of-fact assumptions of the seer may 
be well compared with the rhapsody of his fol- 
lower: — 

' We still continued the work of translation, when, in the 
ensuing month, (May, 1829), w^e on a certain day went 
into the woods to pray and inquire of the Lord respect- 
ing baptism for the remission of sins, as we found men- 
tioned in the translation of the plates. While we were 
thus employed, praying and calling upon the Lord, a 
messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light, 
and having laid his hands upon us, he ordained us, 
saying unto us, ' Upon you, my fellow servants, in the 
name of Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, 
which holds the keys of the ministering of a?igels, and of 
the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion 
for the remission of sins ; and this shall never be taken 
again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer 
again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.'^ He 
said this Aaronic Priesthood had not the power of laying 
on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, but that this 
should be conferred on us hereafter ; and he commanded 
us to go and be baptized, and gave us directions that I 
should baptize Oliver Cowdery, and afterwards that he 
should baptize me. 

Accordingly we went and were baptized — I baptized 
him first, and afterwards he baptized me — after which I 
laid my hands upon his head and ordained him to the 
Aaronic Priesthood^ and afterwards he laid his hands on 



JOSEPH THE OCCULTIST 217 

me and ordained me to the same Priesthood — for so we 
were commanded/ * 



* This was not long desired before it was realized. The 
Lord, who is rich in mercy, and ever willing to answer 
the consistent prayer of the humble, after we had called 
upon Him in a fervent manner, aside from the abodes of 
men, condescended to manifest to us His will. On a 
sudden, as from the midst of eternity, the voice of the 
Redeemer spake peace to us, while the vail was parted 
and the angel of God came down clothed with glory, and 
delivered the anxiously looked for message, and the keys 
of the gospel of repentance ! What joy ! What wonder ! 
What amazement ! While the world was racked and 
distracted — while the millions were groping as the blind 
for the wall, and while all men were resting upon uncer- 
tainty, as a general mass, our eyes beheld — our ears 
heard. As in the * blaze of day'; yes, more — above the 
glitter of the May sunbeam, which then shed its brilliancy 
over the face of nature ! Then his voice, though mild, 
pierced to the centre, and his words, ' I am thy fellow 
servant,' dispelled every fear. We listened — we gazed — 
we admired ! 'Twas the voice of the angel from glory — 
'twas a message from the Most High ! and as we heard 
we rejoiced, while His love enkindled upon our souls, and 
we were wrapt in the vision of the Almighty 1 Where 
was room for doubt? Nowhere: uncertainty had fled, 
doubt had sunk, no more to rise, while fiction and decep- 
tion had fled forever ! ' ^° 



9 * Pearl of Great Price,' pp. 105-6. 
10* Pearl of Great Price,' pp. 105-108, 



2i8 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Up to his dying day, Cowdery believed there 
was no ' fiction and deception ' either in this 
manifestation, or in the plate vision." This fact 
has a twofold significance: the persistance of his 
belief shows the vividness of the original hallucina- 
tion, but the conviction of reality points to hypnosis 
— in which there is * an apparently logical connection 
between the suggested idea and the hypnotic sub- 
ject's own thoughts.' ^' The final testimony of the 
second witness is equally illuminating, both as to 
the seeming external projection of the sensible 
image, and the condition of mind in which the 
subject sees but does not reason. In an interview, 
September, 1878, David Whitmer said: — 

* It was in June, 1829, the latter part of the month, and 
the eight witnesses saw them, I think, a day or two 
after we did. Joseph himself showed the plates to the 
eight witnesses, but the angel showed them to us, the 
three witnesses. Martin Harris was not with us this 
(the first) time, but he obtained a view of them after- 
wards the same day. We not only saw the plates of the 
Book of Mormon^ but also the brass plates, and the 
plates of the Book of Ether ^ and the plates containing 
the records of the wickedness and secret combinations of 
the world down to the time of their being engraved, and 

"Whitmer, 'Address,* p. 8, says: < On March 3, 1850, I was 
present at the deathbed of Oliver Cowdery, and his last words were, 
" Brother David, be true to your testimony of the « Book of 
Mormon.* " * 

12 MoU, p. 214. 



JOSEPH THE OCCULTIST 219 

also many other plates. We were overshadowed by a 
light, one not like the light of the sun or of a fire, but 
one more glorious and beautiful. It extended away 
around us, and in the midst of the light there appeared, 
as it were, a table, with many plates or records upon it 
besides the plates of the Book of Mormon; also the 
sword of Laban, and the directors (that is the ball which 
Lehi had), and the interpreter. I saw them just as 
plainly as I see this bed (striking with his hand the bed 
by which he sat), and I heard the voice of the Lord as 
distinctly as I ever heard anything in my life, declaring 
that the records of the plates of the Book of Mormon 
were translated by the gift and power of God.* ^* 

Whitmer's entire faith in the reality of the vision 
of the plates is perpetuated by the inscription on his 
tomb.'* His grandson supplies further information, 
and, what is more, suggests hypnotism as a 



15 ' Joseph the Seer,' pp. 56-7. Compare Richmond, Missouri, 
Democrat^ February 2, 1881 : — Just before his death, Whitmer is 
said to have called the family and his doctor to his bedside and to 
have exclaimed, < Dr. Buchanan, I want you to say whether or not 
I am in my right mind, before giving my dying testimony.' The 
doctor answered, * Yes, you are in your right mind.' Then . . . 
the old man : * I want to say to you all, the Bible and the record 
of the Nephites, is true.* 

i*«The Record of the Jews and the Record of the Nephites 
are one. Truth is eternal ' (Schweich, April 6, 1899). 

1* George W. Schweich, Richmond, Missouri, wrote September 
22d, 1899, * I ^^y^ begged him to unfold the fraud in the case and 
he had all to gain and nothing to lose to but speak the word if he 
thought so — but he has described the scene to me many times, of 



220 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Of the credulity of the last of the three witnesses 
an instance has already been given : it was Martin 
Harris ' a farmer of respectability * who had already 
lent money to Joseph '' and had taken the transcrip- 
tion or ' Caractors ' to New York City. In a letter 
written by him in 1870, he said: — 'No man ever 
heard me in any way deny either the Book of Mor- 
mon, or the administration of the angel that showed 
me the plates, or the organization of the Church of 
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints under the ad- 
ministration of Joseph Smith, junior, the prophet, 
whom the Lord raised up for that purpose in these 
later days, that He might show forth His power and 
glory. The Lord has shown me these things by 
His Spirit, and by the administration of angels, and 
confirmed the same with signs following for the 
space of forty years. I do say that the angel did 
show me the plates containing the Booh of Mormon, 
and further that the translation that I carried to 
Professor Anthon was copied from the plates.* " 

The case of Harris presented greater difficulties 
than that of the other two. His financial dealings 
with Smith; his loss of the one hundred and sixteen 

his vision about noon time in an open pasture — there is only one 
explanation barring an actual miracle and that is this — If that 
vision was not real it was hypnotism, it was real to grandfather IN 

FACT.* 

1* < Pearl of Great Price,' p. 102. 
" ' Joseph the Seer,' pp. 57-8. 



JOSEPH THE OCCULTIST 221 

pages of manuscript, and the revelation imply- 
ing that he was in league with the devil, — made 
him, for the time being, less susceptible to the 
revelators' influence. Yet Harris was by nature a 
good subject; he had always been a firm believer in 
dreams, visions, and supernatural appearances, such 
as apparitions and ghosts.'' Five years before his 
death, an attack of vertigo was interpreted by him 
as *a snare of the adversary to hinder him from 
going to Salt Lake City.' '^ 

With all this in view, it is interesting to watch 
how Smith approached one whose constitutional 
susceptibility was biased by a personal grudge. 
Three months before the vision took place there 
was * A Revelation given to Joseph and Martin, in 
Harmony, Pennsylvania, when Martin desired of 
the Lord to know whether Joseph had, in his pos- 
session, the record of the Nephites.' ^^ Not long 

^8 Clark, * Gleanings,* p. 223. 

J^Deseret Evening News, December 13, 1881. Interview of 
Edward Stevenson with One of the Three Witnesses. — * A very 
singular incident occurred at this time. While Martin was visit- 
ing his friends ... his pathway crossed a large pasture, in 
which he became bewildered, dizzy, faint, and staggering through 
the blackberry vines, his clothes torn, bloody and faint, he lay 
down under a tree to die. After a time he revived, called on the 
Lord, and finally at twelve midnight, found his friend. . . . 
He related this incident as a snare of the adversary to hinder him 
from going to Salt Lake City.* 

20 < Book of Commandments,' Chapter 4. 



222 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

after this occurred the loss of the manuscript, 
and the consequent rupture between the translator 
and his first scribe. But with the completion of the 
translation there came reconciliation and renewed 
expectancy. ' As soon as the Book of Mormon was 
translated/ narrates Mrs. Smith, ' we conveyed this 
intelligence to Martin Harris, for we loved the man, 
although his weakness had cost us much trouble. 
Hearing this, he greatly rejoiced, and determined to 
go straightway to Waterloo to congratulate Joseph 
upon his success. . . . The next morning, 
after attending to the usual services, namely, read- 
ing, singing, and praying, Joseph arose from his 
knees, and approaching Martin Harris with a 
solemnity that thrills through my veins to this 
day, when it occurs to my recollection, said, 
** Martin Harris, you have got to humble yourself 
before your God this day, that you may obtain a 
forgiveness of your sins. If you do, it is the will 
of God that you should look upon the plates, 
in company with Oliver Cowdery and David 
Whitmer.'^'" 

But with Martin the ' eye of faith ' had not yet 
taken the place of the natural vision. As Whitmer 
says, * Martin Harris was not with us this (first) 
time, but he obtained a view of them [the plates] 
afterwards, the same day.'^' It was the going 

21 * Biographical Sketches,' p. 138. 22 < Joseph the Seer/ p.56. 



JOSEPH THE OCCULTIST 223 

aside and praying over the third witness that 
delayed the return to the house until between 
three and four in the afternoon. Joseph then gave 
vent to his joy, saying, ' Father, mother, you do not 
know how happy I am; the Lord has now caused 
the plates to be shown to three more besides my- 
self/ * Upon this,' adds Lucy, * Martin Harris came 
in: he seemed almost overcome with joy, and 
testified boldly to what he had both seen and heard. 
And so did David and Oliver, adding, that no 
tongue could express the joy of their hearts, and the 
greatness of the things which they had both seen 
and heard.' '^ 

The final details of the transaction are obtained 
from the account of the chief actor. Joseph says in 
his History of the Church : — 

* Not many days after the above command- 
ment was given, we four, viz., Martin Harris, 
David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and myself, 
agreed to retire into the woods, and try to ob- 
tain, by fervent and humble prayer, the fulfil- 
ment of the promise given in the revelation — 
that they should have a view of the plates, etc. 
We accordingly made choice of a piece of 

*3 < Biographical Sketches/ p. 139. For Harris' persistent belief 
compare Knight, p. 1 1 : — * Martin Harris on his deathbed bore his 
testimony to the truth and divinity of the * Book of Mormon,' a 
short time before he departed, and the last word he uttered when 
he could not speak the sentence, was, •* Book ! Book ! Book ! " ' 



224 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

woods convenient to Mr. Whitmer*s house, to 
which we retired, and having knelt down, we 
began to pray in much faith to Almighty God 
to bestow upon us a realization of these prom- 
ises. According to previous arrangements I 
commenced by vocal prayer to our heavenly 
Father, and was followed by each of the rest in 
succession. We did not, however, obtain any 
answer or manifestation of the divine favor in 
our behalf. We again observed the same order 
of prayer, each calling on and praying fervently 
to God in rotation, but with the same result as 
before. Upon this, our second failure, Martin 
Harris proposed that he should withdraw him- 
self from us, believing, as he expressed himself, 
that his presence was the cause of our not ob- 
taining what we wished for; he accordingly 
withdrew from us, and we knelt down again, 
and had not been many minutes engaged in 
prayer, when presently we beheld a light above 
us in the air, of exceeding brightness : and be- 
hold, an angel stood before us ; in his hands he 
held the plates which we had been praying for 
these to have a view of; he turned over the 
leaves one by one, so that we could see them, 
and discover the engravings thereon distinctly. 
He then addressed himself to David Whitmer, 
and said, "David, blessed is the Lord and he 
that keeps His commandments." When, imme- 
diately afterwards, we heard a voice from out 
of the bright light above us, saying, ''These 
plates have been revealed by the power of God, 
and they have been translated by the power of 



JOSEPH THE OCCULTIST 225 

God. The translation of them which you 
have seen is correct and I command you to 
bear record of what you now see and hear/* I 
now left David and Oliver, and went in pursuit 
of Martin Harris, whom I found at a consider- 
able distance, fervently engaged in prayer. He 
soon told me, however, that he had not yet 
prevailed with the Lord, and earnestly requested 
me to join him in prayer, that he also might 
realize the same blessings which we had just re- 
ceived. We accordingly joined in prayer, and 
ultimately obtained our desires, for, before we 
had yet finished, the same vision was open to 
our view, at least it was again to me, and I once 
more beheld and heard the same things, whilst 
at the same moment Martin Harris cried out, 
apparently in ecstasy of joy, *' 'Tis enough; 
mine eyes have beheld,'* and jumping up, he 
shouted *' Hosannah," blessing God, and other- 
wise rejoiced exceedingly.* ^ 

Beneath these cryptic accounts, with their legend- 
ary accretions, it remains to discover the psycho- 
logy of the Saints; to find to what degree the mani- 

24 Compare interview with David "^^^litme^ in Kingston, Mis- 
souri, Times ^ December 27, 1887 • — [I'he plates] < \\rere shown to 
us in this way — Joseph, Oliver and I were sitting on a log, when 
we were overshadowed by a light more glorious than that of the 
sun. In the midst of this light, but a few feet from us, ap- 
peared a table, upon which were many golden plates. ... I 
saw them as plain as I see you now, and distinctly heard the voice 
of the Lord declaiming that the records of the plates of the " Book 
of Mormon " were translated by the gift and the power of God.' 



226 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

festations are explicable on the grounds of sub- 
jective hallucination, induced by hypnotic suggest- 
ion. A closer scrutiny of the evidence will shov^ 
how nearly it fills the various conditions demanded. 
But before that is undertaken, various traditions must 
be cleared away, especially certain occult assump- 
tions and explanations of a generation ago. It was 
claimed of Smith that he possessed a ' fascination of 
glance,* and that he was *a magnet in a large 
way.'^^ Brigham Young asserted the former, the 
electro-biologists the latter. The various upholders 
of these emanation theories ignored the fact that as 
spiritual head of his church, the prophet had untold 
influence over the bodies and souls of his devotees. 
Given then, such an influence, and sensitive sub- 
jects, and mental suggestion could produce any- 
thing in the way of illusion. Thus the explanation 
is subjective, not objective; it was captivation but 
not fascination ; there was leader and led, and the 
former succeeded in inducing in the latter all the 
phantasmagoria of religious ardor. In the Kirtland 
frenzy and the Nauvoo excitement, the Saints had 
illusive images ranging from bears and wolves and 
scalping Indians, to concourses of angels and the 
New Jerusalem. 

Again, the vision of the plates may be related in a 
larger way with what has gone before. Of the 

25 New York Herald^ May 2, 1842. 



JOSEPH THE OCCULTIST 227 

three classes of hallucinations two have already 
been explicated. Joseph's father had the ordinary 
hallucination of dream; his grandfather that which 
persists into the waking state. The vision of the 
three witnesses is that form of hallucination which 
may occur either in the normal state, or be induced 
in the state of light hypnosis. The former is ex- 
emplified in day-dreams; it is largely self-induced 
and implies some capacity for visualizing. The 
latter may also occur with the eyes open, but it is 
induced by the positive suggestion of another. 

But integrally connected with all this is the ques- 
tion whether, in the vision of the Records, the 
three subjects were conscious of an extra-mental 
impulse. Whitmer was once asked if he was in 
his usual condition of consciousness while he be- 
held the plates, and if he was sensible of surround- 
ing objects. He refused to answer the inquiry.'^ 
This silence might connote a deep state of hypnosis, 
in which the subject is not aware that he has been 
hypnotized. But the loss of memory of the initial 
impulse is not the same as forgetfulness of the hal- 
lucination, as such. Amnesia does not occur in the 
light stages, nor need there be abnormality of mem- 
ory in its three functions of retention, reproduction, 
and recognition of its ideas. 

If the substantial agreement between the earliest 

5s Stenhouse, p. 29. 



228 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

and latest testimonies of the witnesses meets the 
requirements of psychological reproduction, so does 
the original form of the hallucination. Association 
of ideas plays its leading part. As the hypnotized 
soldier will hear the voice of his old commander, or 
the devout French peasant see his patron Saint, so 
was it in these manifestations. The ideas and inter- 
ests which were uppermost in the mind were pro- 
jected outwards. Harris had received the first 
'transcription of the gold plates*; Whitmer had 
been saturated with notions of ancient engravings ; 
Cowdery, for weeks at a time, had listened to the 
sound of a voice translating the record of the 
Nephites. When that voice was again heard in the 
grove, when the four sought ' by fervent and hum- 
ble prayer to have a view of the plates,' there is 
little wonder that there arose a psychic mirage, 
complete in every detail. Furthermore, the rotation 
in praying, the failure of the first two attempts, the 
repeated workings of the prophet over the doubting 
Harris, but serve to bring out the additional in- 
centives to the hypnotic hallucination. Repetition, 
steady attention, absence of mistrust, self-surrender 
to the will of the principal, — all the requisites are 
present, not as formulae but as facts. The varia- 
tions in method were many, the results were 
one. 
In a few days there followed the episode of the 



JOSEPH THE OCCULTIST 229 

eight witnesses." In their testimony, they claimed 
not only to have seen the plates, but to have 
handled and 'hefted' them. The bucolic phrases, 
properly interpreted, suggest both visual and tactual 
sense illusions. But other explanations should be 
glanced at before the psychological explanation is 
attempted. To peer into the wilderness of guesses 
is a waste of time, unless it shows the characteristic 
tendency to believe things without logical proof. 
Thus the credulity of the Mormons is evidenced by 
their irritation at the various surmises of the pro- 
fane, — from the no-plate theory repudiated by 
Mother Smith,^^ to the ' yellow-tin-plate-ventriloquist 

27 * And Also the Testimony of Eight Witnesses. 
Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto 
whom this work shall come, that Joseph Smith, Jr., the Author 
and Proprietor of this work, has shown unto us the plates of which 
hath been spoken, which have the appearance of gold ; and as 
many of the leaves as the said Smith hath translated, we did 
handle with our hands : and we also saw the engravings thereon, 
all of which has the appearance of ancient work, and curious 
workmanship. And this we bear record with words of soberness, 
that the said Smith has shown unto us, for we have seen and 
hefted, and known of a surety, that the said Smith has got the 
plates of which we have spoken. And we give our names unto 
the world, to witness unto the world that which we have seen: and 
we lie not, God bearing witness of it. 

Christian Whitmer, Hiram Page, 

Jacob Whitmer, Joseph Smith, Sen., 

Peter Whitmer, Jr., Hyrum Smith, 

John Whitmer, Samuel H. Smith/ 

28 In the legal prosecution against Joseph in Lyons, N. Y., 
one witness 'declared that he once inquired of Joseph Smith 



230 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

theory' derided by the reorganized Saints.*^ To 
finish the matter: there is a choice between two 
things. The Testimony of the Eight Witnesses is a 
pure fabrication. It is a document due to the affi- 
davit habit. Like the slanderous manifestoes 
against the Smiths, this has the suspicious uni- 
formity of a patent medicine testimonial. 

The other alternative is that the Testimony of the 
Eight is a record of collective hypnotization. In 
form it might be either an hallucination or an illusion, 
— the perception of an object where in reality there is 
nothing, or the false interpretation of some existing 
external object. '° The possibility of collective hyp- 
nosis is shown by the numerous historic instances 
of contagious psychic epidemics, arising from re- 
ligious fervor and an overstimulated imagination.'^ 
Even in modern time these have ranged from the 
more orderly visionary occurrences at Lourdes, to 
the Swedish 'preaching disease,* and its attendant 
hallucinatory mania. Whatever the phase, the 
eight witnesses formed a close psychic corporation, 
consisting of two family parties and one outsider. 

what he had in that box, and Joseph Smith told him that there was 
nothing at all in the box, saying that he had made fools of the 
whole of them, and all he wanted was, to get Martin Harris' 
money away from him.* — 'Biographical Sketches,* p. 134. 

'** Joseph the Seer,* p. 105. 

80 For examples compare Moll, p. 106. 

8J Compare Bernheim, pp. 13, 14; De Boismont, p. 238. 



JOSEPH THE OCCULTIST 231 

Although little is known of these Whitmers, and 
nothing of Page, it is certain that the abnormal re- 
ligious influences of the times had rendered them 
more or less susceptible to suggestion. Given 
Joseph Smith, senior, as a nucleus of credulity, 
there may easily have happened here what happens 
under modern experimental methods of hypnosis, 
— when persons endowed with a vivid power of 
representation are gathered together, ' by exchang- 
ing confidences, or by imparting their respective 
impressions, they reciprocally hallucinate each 
other/ ^^ 

Smith's achievements as prophet, seer, and revel- 
ator have been explained on the basis of auto-hyp- 
nosis and hypnotic suggestion. The use of such 
terms is of course proleptic. A difficult problem 
now arises: What historic connection, if any, was 
there between the founder of Mormonism and those 
movements of his day which formed the antecedents 
of hypnotism?^ Did he borrow from Sweden- 
borgianism, Animal Magnetism, Spiritualism and 
other pseudo-scientific cults which swept over the 
country? To anticipate, — the answer is negative. 
At the founding of the church, these movements 
were as yet below the horizon of the prophet, 

22 Binet and Fere, p. 222. 

33 Compare Joseph Jastrow, * Fact and Fable in Psychology,* 
Boston, 1900, pp. 171-235. 



232 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

while his most mature theories were simple in the 
extreme. The true explanation must be connected 
with both ancestry and environment. As his pro- 
genitors took a prehistoric view of dreams, and his 
followers held to the savage's animistic conception 
of evil spirits, so Joseph's mental habit was most 
primitive. With him hypnosis was of the time- 
worn sort, the kind which was to be found in the 
witchcraft at Endor and the priestcraft at Ephesus. 
Incidentally if any paganism is to be found in 
Mormonism, it lies in this continuity of heathen 
thought, on the occult side. As for Smith himself, 
his case was sporadic, his achievements empirical, 
and his abnormal performances a resultant of a faith 
tinged with superstition. To his overwrought 
imagination, these appeared true apostolic gifts,— 
trances, speaking with tongues, anointing with holy 
oil, and healing by prayer. ^* 

To bring the latter-day problem to a head: the 
historic points of attachment may be largely re- 
solved into questions of place and time. This was 
an occult locality. Rochester, known as the ' Boston 
of the West,' was confessedly a 'hotbed of isms.'^^ 
Canandaigua, about ten miles from Joseph's home, 
was the early stamping ground of the Fox sisters, '* 

'* Compare Parley P. Pratt, * Persecutions,* Chapter v. 

35 Parke, « Rochester,* p. 267. 

36 Compare * Report of the Mysterious Noises at Hydesville, 
Canandaigua, April, 1848.* 



JOSEPH THE OCCULTIST 233 

and the starting point of spiritualism proper. Along 
the Erie canal there had already spread an American 
variety of Mesmerism. The place was likely, but 
not the time. The spirit rappings did not begin 
until April, 1848; nor electro-magnetism until the 
first workings of the electric telegraph in 1844. 

But to take up the various alternate explanations 
in detail. There was the supposition that Joseph 
Smith, like Swedenborg, was a seer-nature.^^ The 
suggested connection is not impossible. There was 
a convention of the American New Church, at Phil- 
adelphia in 1817.*^ Already a regularly ordained 
Swedenborgian missionary had traveled to the 
Western Reserve. ^^ In the early thirties a volume 
of Swedenborg was in the possession of a Mormon 
convert. ^ Lastly, in the forties Smith himself, as 
an expert in sectarianism, was doubtless cognizant 
of the New Jerusalem Church; his Revelation on 

s"' « American Phrenological Journal,* November, 1866, p. 146 : 
— Joseph like Swedenborg was a seer nature. It is more logical 
to believe him to have been an earnest religious leader, than to 
have been a non-believer in his own mission. Men never accom- 
plish much when they have not unbounded faith in themselves 
and their call. . . . The fact that the astute mind of Brigham 
Young and those of many other remarkable and talented men, 
were fascinated by Joseph Smith is suggestive. . . . There 
was an infinite aim and purpose about the man, which was 
certainly very taking.* 

38 « Encyclopaedia Brittanica,' article Swedenborgianism. 

39 Venable, p. 211. 

^ Maria Ward, ' Fifteen Years Among the Mormons/ p. 17. 



234 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Celestial Marriage has a formal likeness to parts of 
the Arcana Coelestia, while his Address to the 
Church, of September 6, 1842, enumerates these 
celestial messages: — *A voice of the Lord in the 
Wilderness of Fayette . . . the voice of Michael 
on the banks of the Susquehanna, ... the 
voice of Gabriel and of Raphael and of divers 
angels.' This reads like the ravings of Sw^eden- 
borg, but in the Wilderness of Fayette the motley 
angels of the seer of Stockholm" had not yet made 
their appearance; Smith's celestial visitants were of 
the orthodox variety. 

The second explanation of Smith's occultism was 
that he was a Mesmerist. This rests on the author- 
ity of a female apostate. By her the prophet is said 
to exclaim, ' I could transform my enemies to life- 
less, senseless lumps of clay. ... I could de- 
prive them of their senses, or compel them to do 
my bidding, even to take their own lives. '*^ The 
force of this testimony is spoiled by exaggeration 
and also by an acknowledged difficulty of date, — 
' the mystery of it is, how Smith came to possess 
the knowledge of that magnetic influence, several 
years before its general circulation throughout the 
country/ Another untrustworthy female claims to 
know the exact source of Joseph's 'mysterious 

41 Compare Immanuel Kant, * Traiime eines Geistersehers,* 1766. 

42 Maria Ward, p. 25. 



JOSEPH THE OCCULTIST 235 

power.* It was Mrs. Bradish who said, 'Smith 
obtained his information, and learned all the strokes, 
and passes, and manipulations from a German 
peddlar. " The story is ingenious, but this was 
not true Mesmerism, for Mesmer did not use the 
peculiar, monotonous, long-continued passes. ** 

Smith's power of fascination was, in the next 
place, attributed to a magnetic force, which per- 
meated and radiated from his whole being.** A 
prominent statesman was averred to have held this 
view, after seeing Smith ' electrify ' and cure a par- 
alyzed arm.*^ The theory is interesting, but it over- 
explains. Joseph had immense influence long be- 
fore this country was permeated by a distorted 
mesmerism. How the latter was imported into 
America is hard to say. After his downfall, Mes- 
mer*s theory of animal magnetism was indeed con- 
tinued, but under another name; Petetins' work on 
animal electricity was published in 1808, but its 
historic influence was slight.*^ In France by its 
own excesses mesmerism had given itself a black 
eye. In England the efforts of two reputable phy- 
sicians to introduce magnetism were unavailing.*^ 

"Ward, p. 417. 

*4 Moll, p. 40. 

« G. Q. Cannon, * Life of Joseph Smith the Prophet,' p. 323. 

<• James A. Garfield, mentioned in * History of the Church,' p. 91. 

^"f Jastrow, p. 195. 

" Namely Ashburner and Elliotson. Compare Moll, p. 14, 



236 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

No regular experimenter seems to have taken hold of 
the subject until Braid, in 1842, published his Satanic 
Agency and Mesmerising^ What the charlatans 
were doing in the meanwhile was but subterranean. 
Judging from the scanty literary remains,^ the 
movement must have got into America in the dark; 
at any rate its academic entry into New York State 
was late. It is said that Dr. Grimes, then a medical 
student in Buffalo, learned Mesmer's Parisian 
methods and applied them in a journey along the Erie 
canal.^^ The Fox sisters were especially susceptible 
and next year, in Canandaigua the * Bethlehem of the 
Dispensation,' there came a message that 'a refor- 
mation was going on in the spirit world. '^'^ These 
phenomena in their quasi-scientific form cannot be 
pushed back of the forties. It was in 1848 that the 
' spirit-circles ' began to spread over the land,^^ while 
Grimes' town hall lectures, on what he called 
electro-biology, were later than Braid's first work. 

49 The work of 1852 borrowed the last part of its title from 
Grimes. Compare Braid, * Magic, Witchcraft, Animal Magnetism, 
Hypnotism and Electro-Biology.' 

50 In the * Encyclopaedia Brittanica,' 22, 404, it is said that animal 
magnetism spread over America in 1848; no details are given as 
to its introduction. Binet and Fere and also Moll make Grimes 
independent of Braid. 

61 For this suggestion I am indebted to Prof. Charles F. Bristol, 
of New York University. 

»2 Parke, p. 267. 

"Johnstone's 'Encyclopedia,' article Spiritualism by Robert 
Dale Owen. 



JOSEPH THE OCCULTIST 237 

Finally attempts have been made to connect 
Smith with spirituaHsm of the Yankee variety. 
The allegations are so curious as to merit quotation. 
One of the cult says: 'the conclusions to which we 
have arrived are, that the Book of Mormon is to a 
very great extent, a spiritual romance, originating 
in the spiritual world, and that Joseph Smith was 
the medium, or the principal one, through whom it 
was given.' ^ A later writer is more eloquent : — 
'The spiritual beings who have originated our sys- 
tem announce a grander spiritual movement, one 
acting with all the power and the benefit of organ- 
ization and unity. For this purpose Joseph Smith 
was raised up, mainly that he might gather an in- 
spirational people, among whom such a system 
could in due time be founded. . . . Joseph 
Smith was raised up to prepare the way for the es- 
tablishment of a central spiritual power which, 
when fully developed, shall sweep all that there is 
valuable in spiritualism within its ample folds, ta- 
king its highest order of seers, its prophets, its spir- 
itual healers.' ^^ It is true that Joseph, like the spirit- 
ualists, had his beliefs in possession and obsession, 
but they were of the good old ecclesiastical sort, 
while his revelation of Celestial Marriage in 1844, 

" Tiffany s Monthly, May, 1859. 

55 E. L. T. Harrison, 'The Church of Zion; or the Question, Is 
it Spiritualism ? ' 1870. 



238 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

antedated by a decade the prosaic free-love doctrine 
of the degenerate 'Rochester rappers/^ 

To sum up : even at the time of Smith's death, of- 
cial spiritualism w^as beyond his ken. Yet there 
were forerunners of the movement, which may 
have affected the young man. Thus there was a 
confessed likeness between the spiritualists and the 
primitive Quakers, who * also believed in manifesta- 
tions through outward voices and appearances, 
through dreams, and through inward spiritual im- 
pressions.' Such a comparison furnishes the real 
clue in Joseph's case," not because his family had a 
chance acquaintance with the Friends,^® but because 
of the religious primitiveness common to the minor 
sects. Quakers, Primitive Baptists, Restorationers 
and Latter-day Saints, all hoped for the return of 
apostolic gifts. A Mormon elder might speak of 
being a 'medium of communication and intelli- 
gence ' ^* but only in the scriptural sense; the prophet 
himself might receive revelations, but it was as the 
' mouth-piece of the Lord.' At first he was far from 
being an * exponent of the spiritual philosophy of the 

66 Compare Margaretta Fox, * The Love Life of Dr. Kane.* 

^"^ Compare Eugene Crowell, * The Identity of Primitive Chris- 
tianity and Modern Spiritualism.' 

^^ * Biographical Sketches,* p. i6o. Compare also Parke, p. 267, 
where it is said that the first message of the Fox sisters was in the 
Quaker jargon. 

" • Times and Seasons/ 5, 684. 



JOSEPH THE OCCULTIST 239 

nineteenth century ' ; ^ in fact he was rather cautious 
in interpreting messages from the other world. To 
an anxious seeker after the interpretation of a trance 
communication, he gave but a general answer/^ 
This was in 1833; ten years later, it is true, there is 
a ' philosophical ' passage with some resemblance 
to the teachings of the spiritualists, but the precise 
style and the nice distinctions point to another 
source. This crass materialism came from Orson 
Pratt, the * gauge of philosophy,' father of Mormon 
metaphysics and author of The Absurdities of Im- 
materialism.^^ Joseph's presentation is as follows: 

60 The sub-title of the Spiritualists' organ, The Banner of Light. 

61 F. G. Bishop, 'An Address,* 185 1, p. 25. 'A certain vision 
which I saw in a state of trance in 1826. It was on a Saturday 
evening, and on the 7th of May, as I was retired in the forest and 
engaged in solemn prayer to God, that I suddenly became insensi- 
ble to anything around me on earth, and yet I was fully alive to 
the scenes before me. I seemed to stand on air and surrounded 
with spirits, yet none of these seemed plainly visible. There ap- 
peared three persons, they fixed their eyes upon me and smiled so 
that I was in a perfect ecstasy. It seemed as if a power rested 
upon my head which pervaded my entire person. At the same in- 
stant this wonderful personage disappeared, and I again returned 
to consciousness in the body as before, deeply pondering on this 
extraordinary vision. When I first saw the three persons, I knew 
they were angels. This vision was pronounced by Joseph the 
Prophet in 1833, a Holy vision from God, but he said he did 
not know its meaning. Now I have been instructed this is its 
signification. The three angels are the three Nephites.' 

62 Compare p. 23 : — * That spiritual bodies are capable of con- 
densation, is evident from the fact of their occupying the small 
bodies of infants. The spirits of just men, who have departed from 



240 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

' In tracing the thing to the foundation, and looking at 
it philosophically we shall find a very material difference 
between the body and the spirit : — the body is supposed 
to be organized matter, and the spirit by many is thought 
to be immaterial, without substance. With this latter 
statement we should beg leave to differ — and state that 
spirit is a substance, that it is material, but that it is more 
pure, elastic, and refined matter than the body; — that it 
existed before the body, can exist in the body, and will 
exist seperate from the body.' ^* 

the fleshly tabernacle, have been seen by the inspired writers ; and 
from their description of them, we should not only judge them to 
be of the same form^ but likewise of about the same size as man 
in this life. These departed spirits, then, which are about the 
same magnitude as men in the flesh, once occupied infant bodies. 
There are only two methods by which to account for their increase 
in magnitude ; one is by an additional quantity of spiritual matter, 
being gradually and continually incorporated in the spiritual body, 
by which its magnitude is increased in the same way and in the 
same proportion as the fleshly body is increased. And wie other 
is by its elasticity or expansive properties by which it increases in 
size, as the tabernacle of flesh and bones increases, until it attains 
to its natural magnitude, or until its expansive and cohesive prop- 
erties balance each other, or are in a state of equilibrium,* 

fi3 * Times and Seasons,' 3, 745. Compare E. W. Cox, ' Spiritualism 
Answered by Science,' New York, 1872, p. 46 : — The theory of the 
spiritualists : — < Man, they say, is composed of body, mind, and 
spirit. A blow will extinguish the mind, and the body inhabited 
by the spirit may continue to live. When the body dies, the spirit 
which occupied it in life passes into a new existence, in which, as 
it was here, it is surrounded by conditions adapted to its structure 
as a being which by earthly senses is deemed immaterial because 
impalpable to them, but which is really very refined matter. Into 
this new existence it passes precisely as it left the present life, 



JOSEPH THE OCCULTIST 241 

Only occasionally, did the prophet, seer and 
revelator essay to be a philosopher; at such times he 
was a mystic rather than a materialist, and his views 
savored more of the sects than of the schools. For 
example, the Irvingites, who claimed to be sacred 
mediums of communication between heaven and 
earth, once came to express sympathy with the 
Mormons for their belief in the restoration of 
primitive gifts.^ Smith scouted their achievements, 
and linked with them the strange performances of 
the two Campbells in Scotland.^ This was but two 
years before the prophet's death; his outlook had 
broadened, but not his way of looking at psychic 
phenomena. His very language bewrayed more of 
the medieval than the modern. As final proof that 
he had but the remotest connection with the crude 
ontologies of his generation, two examples may be 
taken, one his so-called tests of supernatural 
messengers,^ the other his editorial entitled, 'Try 



taking with it the mental, but not the bodily, characteristics it had 
on earth, so far as these are adapted to the altered conditions of 
that new existence. The intellect is enlarged to the extent only of 
the increased power of obtaining intelligence necessarily resulting 
from exemption from the laws of gravitation and the conditions of 
time and space that limit the powers of the spirit while it is in the 
flesh." 

«< McClintock and Strong, < Encyclopedia,' article Mormonism. 

w « Times and Seasons,' 2, 746. 

•6 Cannon, p. 404. 



242 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

the Spirits/ ^^ The first was meant for his worried 
devotees. * If an angel,' he says, ' shakes hands and 
you can feel his hand, all is well ; if he is the spirit 
of a just man made perfect, he will not move; if he 
is the devil, as an angel of light, you cannot feel his 
hand/^^ This was meant for home consumption; 

•7 * Times and Seasons,' 3, 744-6. 

68 Compare also Smith in Millennial Star, 17, 312 : — * We are to 
try the spirits and prove them, for it is often the case that men make 
a mistake in regard to these things. God has so ordained that when 
He has communicated, no vision is to be taken but what you see 
by the seeing of the eye, or what you hear by the hearing of the ear. 
When you see a vision, pray for the interpretation ; if you get not 
this, shut it up ; there must be certainty in this matter. An open 
vision will manifest that which is more important. Lying spirits 
are going forth in the earth. There will be great manifestations 
of spirits, both false and true. Being born again, comes by the 
Spirit of God through ordinances. An angel of God never has 
wings. Some will say that they have seen a spirit ; that he offered 
them his hand, but they did not touch it. This is a lie. First, it 
is contrary to the plan of God ; a spirit cannot come but in glory ; 
an angel has flesh and bones ; we see not their glory. The devil 
may appear as an angel of light. Ask God to reveal it ; if it be of 
the devil he will flee from you ; if of God, he will manifest himself 
or make it manifest. We may come to Jesus and ask Him ; He will 
know all about it ; if He comes to a little child He will adapt Him, 
self to the language and capacity of a little child. Every spirit, or 
vision, or singing, is not of God. The devil is an orator; he is 
powerful ; he took our Saviour on to a pinnacle of the temple and 
kept Him in the wilderness for forty days. The gift of discerning 
of spirits will be given to the Presiding Elder. Pray for him that 
he may have this gift. Speak not in the gift of tongues without 
understanding it, or without interpretation. The devil can speak 
in tongues; the adversary will come with his work; he can tempt 
all classes ; can speak in English or Dutch. Let no one speak in 



JOSEPH THE OCCULTIST 243 

the editorial, of April ist, 1842, was directed to the 
public: — 

' Recent events compel me to say something 
about the spirits. ' One great evil is that men 
are ignorant of the nature of spirits ; their power, 
laws, government, intelligence, etc., and im- 
agine that when there is anything like power, 
revelation, or vision manifested that it must be 
of God : — hence the Methodists, Presbyterians, 
and others frequently possess a spirit that will 
cause them to lay down, and during its opera- 
tion animation is frequently entirely suspended ; 
they consider it to be the power of God, and a 
glorious manifestation from God ; a manifestation 
of what? — is there any intelligence communi- 
cated ? are the curtains of heaven withdrawn, 
or the purposes of God developed ? — have they 
seen and conversed with an angel ; or have the 
glories of futurity burst upon their view ? No ! 
but their body has been inanimate, the opera- 
tion of their spirit suspended, and all the in- 
telligence that can be obtained from them when 
they arise, is a shout of glory, or hallelujah, or 
some incoherent expression ; but they have had 
''the power.'* The Shaker will whirl around 
on his heel impelled by a supernatural agency, 
or spirit, and think that he is governed by the 
spirit of God ; and the jumper will jump, and 
enter into all kinds of extravagancies, a Primi- 

tongues unless he interpret, except by the consent of the one who 
is placed to preside ; then he may discern or interpret, or another 
may.' 



244 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

tive Methodist will shout under the influence of 
that spirit until he will rend the heavens with 
his cries; while the Quakers, (or Friends) 
moved as they think by the spirit of God, will 
sit still and say nothing.* 



CHAPTER VIII 
JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 



CHAPTER VIII 

JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 

Before considering the 'great manifestations of 
spirits' among the Latter-day Saints, it is desirable to 
note some of the outward and visible signs of 
growth, some of the causes of success, and some 
of the records and documents of the organization. 

' We review his career, and behold him from the 
poor, despised visionary of Manchester, rising in the 
short space of fifteen years, to the presidency of a 
church numbering not less than 200,000 souls.' ^ A 
gentile visitor at Nauvoo, in 1844, thus eulogized 
the prophet. His statement was welcomed by the 
Mormons as proof of their divine origin; for all that 
their spread was truly remarkable. In the Middle 
West they had their struggle for existence; the 
Church was persecuted, its founder killed. Then 
began the wholesale emigration under Brigham 
Young. Unusual executive ability was displayed in 
this flight of the Mormon tribe, and astonishing 
fortitude in crossing the Rockies and the alkali 

> « Times and Seasons,* 5, 589. 
247 



248 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

plains. At last, in the far West there came a chance 
for unrestricted development. In a secluded valley 
of Utah the polygamous Saints attached themselves 
to the soil, and increased w^ith the rapidity of an 
isolated germ culture. As a bit of historical path- 
ology, the growth of Mormondom is unique and 
merits thorough investigation. But since a bio- 
graphical study deals, perforce, with inward causes 
and individual origins, it is necessary to return to 
the infant church, as it was affected by the person- 
ality of its founder. 

Mormonism contained, from the start, the ele- 
ments of denominational success. In the first place, 
no other American sect could point to a Bible of its 
own manufacture. As the Latter-day poet ex- 
claimed: 'embalmed records, plates of gold, glorious 
things to us unfold.'^ But the acceptance of the 
Book was due to more than the archaic embellish- 
ments of the author. It is the old story of a terri- 
tory already prepared. The locality, where Joseph 
brought forth the 'ancient engravings of Nephi,' 
was the locality where the Cardiff giant hoax was 
perpetrated. But although first readers of the Book 
of Mormon were credulous, they had a patriotic 
streak in their archaeological interests. As Oliver 
Cowdery said 'a history of the inhabitants who 
peopled this continent, previous to its being dis- 
X Times and Seasons,' 2, 421. 



JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 249 

covered to Europeans by Columbus must be inter- 
esting to every man.'^ 

Another element of success was that no other 
native sect had revelations in such profusion 
and in such business-like form. As compiled 
in the Book of Commandments these form the 
rarest of all original Mormon sources,* and, at 
the same time, the most valued of their in- 
spired writings. It is the Book of Mormon ' backed 
up' by this 'other book taken to the Lamanites' 
that forms the real Mormon Canon. ^ As the prophet 
queried : ' Take away the Book of Mormon and the 
Revelations, and where is our religion .^'^ As an- 

s Cowdery, p. 28. Compare * Biographical Sketches,' p. 152. 
Joseph^s young brother Samuel, being * set apart on a mission to 
sell the books,' asked his customers if they did not wish to pur- 
chase * a history of the origin of the Indians.* 

* Sabin, * Bibliothica Americana,' 12, 384, says this book was 
never published. There is a copy in the Berrian Collection. The 
copy here used is the Salt Lake Tribune reprint of 1884. 

5 « Times and Seasons,' 6, 762. 

6 « Times and Seasons,' 6, 1060. Compare preface to first edi- 
tion of « Doctrine and Covenants,' 1835 • — * ^^ deem it to be un- 
necessary to entertain you with a lengthy preface to the following 
volume, but merely to say that it contains in short the leading 
items of the religion which we have professed to believe. The 
first part of the book will be found to contain a series of lectures as 
delivered before a theological class in this place, and, in conse- 
quence of their embracing the important doctrine of salvation, we 
have arranged them into the following work. . . . There 
may be an aversion in the minds of some against receiving any- 
thing purporting to be articles of religious faith, in consequence of 
there being so many creeds now extant ; but if men believe a sys- 



250 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

other curiosity of Mormon literature the history of 
this volume may be briefly sketched. Joseph's 
youthful prophecies have been preserved only in 
the narrative of his mother; but the vaticinations 
of the year 1829 proved so successful, that they 
were thought v^orth preserving; so on April 6th, 
1830, there came this revelation: 'Behold there 
shall be a record kept among you, and in it thou 
shalt be a seer, a translator, a prophet.'^ Within a 
score of v^eeks the prophet created a monopoly of 
oracular responses, — ' no one shall be appointed to 
receive commandments and revelations in this 
church, excepting my servant Joseph.*® 

The Book of Commandments comprises fifty-five 
chapters and runs to September, 1831. The council 
ordered that three thousand copies be printed in the 
first edition. David Whitmer says that he warned 
Smith and Rigdon against this, ' for the world would 
get hold of the books and it would not do.* He adds 
that, from the time some of the copies slipped 
through the hands of the unwise brethren, the ill-feel- 
ing against the Saints increased.* Whether this is true 

tern and profess that it was given by inspiration, certainly the more 
intelligibly they can present it the better. . . . We have, 
therefore, endeavored to present, though in few words, our belief, 
and, when we say this, humbly trust the faith and principles of 
this society as a body.* 

^ * Book of Commandments,' Chapter 22. 

8 * Book of Commandments,' Chapter 30. 

9 * Address,' p. 55. 



JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 251 

or not, on July 20th, 1833, the Mormon printing 
office in Independence, Missouri, was torn down 
by the mob, but not before the book was com- 
pleted. '" 

The relation of this supplementary brochure to 
the Book of Mormon has been compared with that 
of the Talmud to the Old Testament." The com- 
parison is too dignified. The Mormon theocratic 
code, such as it was, is here presented, but there is 
besides a welter of undefinable utterances. The 
Gemara added to the Mishna gives no idea of this 
curious mixture of religion and business. 

The Booh of Commandments is, in part, a book 
of discipline, wherein the ' Articles and Covenants of 
the Church of Christ ' are given at length.'' But the 



JO 'Handbook of Reference,' p. 42. The Berrian Sale Cata- 
logue makes this contradictory statement: — * This book was never 
published, nor even completed. Only two copies are known. 
The sheets were destroyed by a Missouri mob, etc. For a lengthy 
description of this rare book see Chas. L. Woodward's «* Biblio- 
graphy on Mormonism." * 

^^ McClintock and Strong, article 'Mormonism.' 
1* Chapter 24. Compare also chapter 20 : — * It shall be the duty 
of the several churches composing the church of Christ, to send 
one or more of their teachers to attend the several conferences held 
by the elders of the church. With a list of the names of the sev- 
eral members uniting themselves with the church since the last 
conference, or send by the hand of some priest, so that a regular 
list of all the names of the whole church may be kept in the book 
by one of the elders, whoever the other elders shall appoint from 
time to time.' 



252 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

pamphlet offers not only rules of action, but food 
for thought; in addition to the duties of the Elders 
or of the Seventies, there are scattered throughout 
rare bits of scriptural interpretation. An entire 
alphabet of mystic exegesis is here set forth, from 
Aaronic Priesthood, Baptism for the Dead, Celes- 
tial glory and the Devil before Adam, down to 
Questions and Answers on the Apocalypse. Thus 
in its confusion of contents the work has a general 
semblance to Joseph's former monument of mis- 
placed energy. Its biographical and personal char- 
acter is also evident from the author's communings 
with himself. Yet the book is not merely a private 
journal, it is a sort of public ledger; as the church in- 
creased, the prophet opens up an account with each 
new member. There were in particular celestial 
orders upon converts with cash; thus: 'My servant 
Martin should be an example to the church in laying 
his moneys before the bishop of the church, and 
my servant Edward should leave his merchan- 
dise and spend all his time in the labors of the 
church.' '' 

The names of the ecclesiastical customers were 
not given in full in the first instance; it is the change 
towards particularity that denotes the emended edit- 
ion of the Book of Commandments. The revamped 
and enlarged edition is entitled The Doctrine and 

^3 * Book of Commandments,* Chapters 49 and 43. 



JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 253 

Covenants,^'' It consists, for the most part, of revel- 
ations to Joseph Smith, junior, ' for the building up 
of the Kingdom of God in the last days*; it also 
contains an account of 'the martyrdom of the 
prophet,' and lastly the 'Word and will of the Lord 
given through President Brigham Young, January 
14th, 1847/ The Commandments and the Covenants 
together give an external history of the Church, 
while the material alterations of the former into the 
latter betray some of the state secrets. As usual, 
many hundred emendations have been discovered.'^ 
One instance is enough to disclose the trend of these 
changes; their mercantile purpose is to be seen from 
a single italicized word. A revelation was given in 
July, 1830, to the prophet's wife. The first edition 
reads: 'Emma thou art an elect lady and thou 
needest not fear, for thy husband shalt support thee 
from the Church;"' the second edition reads : 'thy 
husband shall support thee in the Church.' " 

J4 The edition here employed is that * divided into verses, with 
references,' by Orson Pratt, senior. Salt Lake City, 1883. The 
revelations from July, 1828, through September, 1831, are, how- 
ever, quoted from the * Book of Commandments.' 

15 Charles L. Woodward, of New York City, has arranged the 
two books in the deadly parallel column. Thus the words in italics 
have been added, in the following revelation to Joseph : * And you 
have a gift to translate the plates, and this is the first gift that I be- 
stowed upon youy and I have commanded you that you should pre- 
tend to no other gift, until my purpose is fulfilled in this ; for I will 
grant unto you no other gift until it is finished.^ 

^^ * Book of Commandments,' Chapter 26. 

" * Doctrine and Covenants,' § 25. 



254 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

So much for the significance of the documents. 
With the Book of Mormon printed and the Book of 
Commandments started, Mormonism had both canon- 
ical and prophetical elements of success. The 
further causes of its spread may be regarded in so 
far as they are common to both founder and fol- 
lower. The hardest thing to grasp in the entire 
propaganda is that curiously narrow attitude of mind 
which regarded this as the ushering in, not of a mere 
new denomination, but of a new dispensation. 
Perhaps the first thing to appeal to the dissatisfied 
religionist was the prophet's announcement of a 
' plain and simple gospel.' ^® As previous analysis 
has shown, complexity and not simplicity was the 
mark of Joseph's doctrine. But to minds whose dis- 
tinctions comprised no differences, this very confu- 
sion was effective. As a magazine of mixed proof 
texts the Book of Mormon appealed to all sects. To 
paraphrase the words of Benjamin Franklin, — the au- 
thor's heterodoxy was everybody's orthodoxy. So 
in spite of all the talk about liberality,'® this unsec- 
tarian society was only another sect in process of 
formation. Its principles were grand enough, but 
its beginnings were very small. There were eleven 

18 This phrase begins in the < fore part ' of the « Book of Mormon ' 
and runs throughout Smith's writings. 

18 For a general tirade against the sect see * Book of Mormon ' 
p. 566 : * O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, etc' Compare 
also * Pearl of Great Price,* p. 102. 



JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 255 

witnesses to the Record, but only six charter mem- 
bers of the Church. ^^ That * Church of Christ,' as 
yet without the full title of Latter-day Saints, was 
organized, according to law, in Fayette, New York, 
on April 6th, 1830. From that time, says the prophet, 
the work 'rolled forth with astonishing rapidity. '^^ 
Of the mental calibre of Joseph's fellow-workers 
something more must be said, — something to ex- 
plain the parf^adox of their making puny Mormonism 
equivalent to a new dispensation. An ethical trav- 
eler in America remarked that strong interest in re- 
ligion was popularly held to mean conversion to a 

20 * Handbook of Reference,' p. 39 : * Names of members : Joseph 
Smith, junior, O. Cowdery, Hyrum Smith, Peter Whitmer, Samuel 
H. Smith and David Whitmer. When the Church was organized, 
the first public ordinations to the Melchisdek Priesthood took place. 
Hands were also laid on for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and 
for the confirmation of members of the Church, and the sacrament 
was administered for the first time.' 

51 * Times and Seasons,' 3, 708. Compare Cowdery, p. 40 : * Many 
of the elders of Christ's church have since been commissioned and 
sent forth over this vast Republic, from river to river, and from 
valley to valley, till the vast sunny plains of Missouri, the frozen 
regions of Canada, and the eastern Maine, with the summer States 
of the South, have been saluted with the sound of the voice of 
those who go forth for the last time to say to Israel, Prepare for the 
coming of thy King. Wonderful to tell ! Amid the frowns of 
bigots, the sneers of hypocrites, the scoffs of the foolish, the cal- 
umny of slanderers, the ridicule of the vain and the popular preju- 
dice of a people estranged from God, urged on to deeds of villainy 
by the priests of Baal, the word has been proclaimed with success, 
and thousands are now enjoying the benign influence of the love 
of God shed forth by the Comforter upon the pure in heart.' 



256 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

particular creed." Such is only a general explana- 
tion of the particular fallacy of taking a part for the 
whole. More precise reasons are to be found. The 
leanness of understanding in the first believers was to 
be expected from the poor food their wits were fed 
on. The blame was not wholly theirs but lay upon 
their spiritual guides. The education of the back- 
woods clergy did not extend beyond the elements of 
a common English education.^^ The most influential 
class of preachers, the Methodists, relying on the ad- 
vice of Wesley, gloried in a ' saddle bags ' educa- 
tion.'* It is unjust to disparage the itinerant mission- 
aries who, for the sake of their religion, forded icy 
rivers and penetrated dark forests. This was the van 
of the army, there were also the camp followers, — 
the sectarian adventurers whom the settled clergy 
roundly denounced as ' evangelists destitute of clas- 
sical and theological furniture, of feeble natural 
abilities, boisterous, vulgar, irreverent, fanatical.''^ 
These were the men behind the revivalistic ex- 
cesses, and yet the people came miles to hear them, 
hanging on their words day after day, forgetting the 
cares of business and the very wants of the body.^® 

22 Martineau, 2, 326. 

23 Thompson, p. 186. 

24 John Atkinson, < Centennial History of American Methodism,* 
1884, P' 143' Compare supplement to Millennial Star, 14, 319. 

25Hotchkin, p. 172. 

26 De Tocqueville, 2, 161. 



JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 257 

The eagerness of the people to hear something new 
and strange was matched by the opposition of the 
older churches. As Joseph's mother said, even be- 
fore the Book of Mormon was printed, * the different 
denominations are very much opposed to us.'" 
All this fostered the rise of new sects ; for the per- 
secution of the larger bodies aroused the spirit of 
the smaller. 

The pride of the sectary, the search for novelty, 
and mental impoverishment were some of the 
natural reasons magnifying the importance of the 
Mormon cult in the eyes of its votaries. In addition 
there were abnormal forces; at work as Joseph de- 
scribed the matter: — 

< Some few were called and ordained by the spirit of 
revelation, and prophesy, and began to preach as the 
spirit gave them utterance, and though weak, yet were 
they strengthened by the power of God, and many were 
brought to repentance, were immersed in the water, and 
were filled with the Holy Ghost by the laying on of 
hands. They saw visions and prophesied, devils were 
cast out and the sick healed by the laying on of hands.* '® 

It is here that Smith added to his previous claims 
the function of exorcist. His clever opportunism 
was shown in the natal month of the church. In 
April, 1830, says the official chronicle, *the devil 

2" Biographical Sketches,* p. 146. 
28 « Times and Seasons,* 3, 708. 



258 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

was cast out of Newel Knight through the adminis- 
tration of Joseph Smith, junior, in Colesville, Broom 
County, New York. This was the first miracle 
which was done in this Church, or by any member 
of it, and it was not done by men nor by the power 
of man, but it was done by God, and the power of 
godliness/^ 

There now begins a series of performances seem- 
ingly out of place in nineteenth century America, — 
the Salem witchcraft of a century and a half before 
reappears in the western wilds. There was the 
same belief in demoniac possession, the same class 
of neurotic and hysterical sufferers, the same cler- 
ical zeal in making capital out of the preternatural. 
Fortunately Joseph Smith was not a reincarnation 
of Cotton Mather. The severest mania took place 
under another's auspices, and, possibly from motives 
of jealousy. Smith did what he could to suppress 
this ' work of the Devil.' 

The preconditions of the first * miracle ' were like 
those of the previous abnormalities. Reaction 
brought belief. As fast as apostolic * gifts' were 
denied by the orthodox, the Latter-day Saints 
affirmed their restoration. Such mental habit was 
found in the first Mormon demoniac. ' By reading 
and searching the Bible,' says Newel Knight, M 
found that there would be a great falling away from 

29 * Handbook of Reference,' p. 40, 



JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 259 

the gospel, as preached and established by Jesus ; 
that in the last days God would set His hand to 
restore that which was lost/*^ Soon after hearing 
the first public gospel sermon of this dispensation/^ 
and while in a state of mental and physical prostra- 
tion, Knight was attacked by the ' power of Satan ' 
and underwent ' curious actions while thus af- 
flicted.'" Smith himself tells how he met the 
crisis : — 

'I went, and found him suffering very much in his 
mind, and his body acted upon in a very strange manner, 
his visage and limbs distorted and twisted in every shape 
and appearance possible to imagine, and finally he was 
caught up off the floor of the apartment and tossed about 
most fearfully. His situation was soon made known to 
the neighbors and relatives, and in a short time as many 
as eight or nine grown persons had got together to wit- 
ness the scene. After he had thus suffered for a time, I 
succeeded in getting hold of him by the hand, when al- 
most immediately he spoke to me, and with very great 
earnestness required of me that I should cast the devil 
out of him, saying that he knew that he was in him, and 
that he also knew I could cast him out. I replied, ''If 
you know that I can, it shall be done,** and then almost 
unconsciously I rebuked the devil and commanded him 
in the name of Jesus Christ to depart from him, when 
immediately Newell spoke out and said that he saw the 

80 * Journal/ p. 48. 

8> « Handbook of Reference,' p. 40. 

8« « Journal,* p. 50. 



26o THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

devil leave him, and vanish from his sight. This was 
the first miracle that was done in this church.' 

Of the therapeutic aspect of this case more will 
be said later. As the history of obsession shows, 
it is the exorcist's mental suggestion, conscious or 
unconscious, that effects these 'miraculous cures.' 
As regards the psychic state of the patient, the pres- 
ence of an hallucinatory image was afterwards ad- 
mitted by Knight himself: Being 'cross-examined 
as to the devil cast out, I said to the lawyer " it will 
be of no use for me to tell you what the devil 
looked like, for it was a spiritual sight and spiritu- 
ally discerned, and of course you would not under- 
stand if I were to tell you of it.'' ' ^ 

The highly neurotic condition of the young body 
of believers was manifest in the first conference of 
the Church, a month later, — 'many prophesied, 
others had the heavens opened to their view.' In 
the nature of things the prophet did not lose the 
advantage of the Saints' 'unspeakable joy.' As 
Knight recounts, ' to find ourselves engaged in the 
very same order of things as were observed and 
practiced by the holy apostles of old, combined to 
create within fresh zeal and energy in the cause of 
truth, and also to confirm our faith in Joseph Smith 
being the instrument in the hands of God, to restore 

» * Journal,* p. 60. 



JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 261 

the Priesthood again to man on earth and to set up 
the Kingdom of God/" 

Six months after this came the Kirtland frenzy, 
when many were 'strangely handled by the 
spirits.' It must be said that Smith did what he 
could to suppress the spasmodic attacks. But the 
people looking on the ecstasy as a ' sign/ the indirect 
results were of prime importance in the growth of 
the Church. A backbone was now put into the 
flabby embryo. One hundred members were added 
to the struggling Church and, more than all, there 
was brought on the scene the Reverend Sidney 
Rigdon, the so-called brains of Mormonism.*^ 

M« Journal,' pp. 52,53. 

35 Compare Appendix III. The following account of Rigdon is 
compiled from 'Times and Seasons,* i, 135-6; 2,429; 5, 612, 
^50-739 ; 6, 899. Compare also this hitherto unpublished holograph 
letter, from the Berrian Collection : — « Friendship, Alleghany 
County, New York, May 25, 1873, ^® ^^^ fourscore years old and 
seriously afflicted with paralysis. . . . The Lord notified us 
that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were agoing 
to be destroyed and for us to leave we did so and the Smiths were 
killed a few days after we started. Since then I have had no con- 
nection with any of the people who staid and built up to them- 
selves churches, and chose to themselves leaders such as they chose 
and then framed their own religion. 

The Church of Latter-day Saints had three books that they ac- 
knowledge as Canonical. The Bible the book of Mormon and 
the commandments. For the existence of that church there had 
to be a revelator one who received the word of the Lord. A 
spokesman one inspired of God to expound all revelation so that 
the church might all be of one faith. Without these two men the 
Church of Latter-day saints could not exist. This order ceased 



262 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

A brief history of the latter is called for. An ex- 
Campbellite preacher and founder of a communistic 
body in Ohio, Rigdon was deemed learned in his- 
tory and literature, and gifted in his flowery 
eloquence. He was first received with open arms 
by Smith, but became later 'a millstone on his back,' 
and was finally shaken oflf in 1843. If the Mormon 
accounts are further to be believed, Rigdon was the 
stormy petrel of the Church ; — where he was, there 
was trouble. It was a Fourth-of-July oration of his 
that roused to fury 'the uncircumcised Philistines 
of Missouri.' As to Rigdon's undue influence over 
Smith much might be said on both sides.*** On the 

to exist, being overcome by the violence of armed men by whom 
houses were beat down by cannon which the assalents had 
furnished themselves with. 

Thus ended the " Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints " — 
and it never can move again till the Lord inspires men and women 
to do it.' 

«6 Whitmer, p. 35 : — ' In December, 1830, Sidney Rigdon and 
Edward Partridge came from Kirtland, Ohio, to Fayette, New 
York, to see Brother Joseph, and in the latter part of the winter 
they returned to Kirtland. In February, 1831, Brother Joseph 
came to Kirtland where Rigdon was. Rigdon was a thorough 
Bible scholar, a man of fine education, and a powerful orator. He 
soon worked himself deep into Brother Joseph's affections, and 
had more influence over him than any other man living. He was 
Brother Joseph's private counsellor, and his most intimate friend 
and brother for some time after they met. Brother Joseph rejoiced, 
believing that the Lord had sent to him this great and mighty man 
Sidney Rigdon, to help him in the work. Poor Brother Joseph ! 
He was mistaken about this, and likewise all of the brethren were 
mistaken ; for we thought at that time just as Brother Joseph did 



JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 263 

one hand, Joseph announced that Sidney was the 
messenger ' sent to prepare the way ' before him, 
and not long after he ordained him prophet, seer 
and revelator. On the other hand, in 1841, Rigdon 
was ordered by revelation, to stay in Nauvoo; while 
in 1844, in the trial before the council, Smith 
openly charged him with ' wallowing in filthiness 
and corruption/ On expulsion from the Church, 
Rigdon withdrew to Pittsburg and published an 
anti-Mormon paper, the Messenger and Advocate 
of the Church oj Christ. 

In comparing the two men, a friend of both said 
that Rigdon ' did not possess the native intellect of 
Smith, and lacked his determined will/^^ There is, 
furthermore, reason for believing that Rigdon was 
mentally unsound. In old age, he writes that he 

about it. But alas ! in a few years we found out different. Sid- 
ney Rigdon was the cause of almost all the errors which were in- 
troduced while he was in the church. I believe Rigdon to have 
been the instigator of the secret organization known as the 
'Danites ' which was formed in Far West Missouri in June, 1838. 
In Kirtland, Ohio, in 183 1, Rigdon would expound the Old Testa- 
ment scriptures of the Bible and « Book of Mormon ' (in his way) 
to Joseph, concerning the priesthood, high priests, etc., and 
would persuade Brother Joseph to inquire of the Lord about this 
doctrine and that doctrine, and of course a revelation would al- 
ways come just as they desired it. Rigdon finally persuaded 
Brother Joseph to believe that the high priests which had such 
great power in ancient times, should be in the Church of Christ 
to-day. He had Brother Joseph inquire of the Lord about it, and 
they received an answer according to their erring desires.* 
ST Burnett, p. 67. 



264 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

was afflicted with paralysis; in boyhood, his brother 
said that he was injured in the head by falling from 
a horse; in 1832, long before their ecclesiastical 
partnership was dissolved, Smith described Rig- 
don as 'delereous/ On March 25th, the two had 
been ' severely mobbed ' in Hiram, Ohio. ' The next 
morning,' narrates the prophet, ' I went to see Elder 
Rigdon, and found him crazy, and his head highly 
inflamed, for they had dragged him by his heels, 
and those too, so high from the earth he could not 
raise his head from the rough frozen surface which 
lascerated it exceedingly/ In 1840 Rigdon wrote 
' my attendant physician has forbid my using any 
exertions, either mental or physical, as it will en- 
danger my life.' Rigdon's erratic tendencies were 
cast in his teeth by his colleagues. Orson Hyde 
thus apostrophized him, in 1844: 'Mr. Rigdon, do 
you not remember how you came into a certain 
council about the ist of April or latter part of March 
last, that had been organized by Joseph Smith; and 
also how you danced and shouted, and threw your 
feet so high that you came well nigh falling back- 
wards upon the stove ? Certainly you must re- 
member this; for you frothed at the mouth like a 
mad man, and gave glory to God so long and loud 
that you became entirely hoarse and exhausted.' 
Whatever judgment may be passed on Rigdon 
morally, mentally his character was one of extremes 



JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 265 

and, as such, had an abnormal influence on early 
Mormondom; as Bishop Whitmer put it: 'He was 
always either in the bottom of the cellar or up in 
the garret window. At the time his license was 
taken in Kirtland he was more sanguine than he is 
now. The people were excited very much at that 
time.' 

From all sides it is clear that Rigdon was the 
moving spirit in the Kirtland frenzy; but there were 
also deeper underlying causes at work; before con- 
sidering these, a description of the trouble is need- 
ful. Rigdon's colleague. Parley Pratt, another 
influential Mormon convert, gives this account: — 
'As I went forth among the different branches 
some very strange spiritual operations were mani- 
fested, which were disgusting rather than edifying. 
Some persons would seem to swoon away, and 
make unseemly gestures, and be drawn or dis- 
figured in their countenances. Others would fall 
into ecstasies, and would be drawn into contor- 
tions, cramps, fits, etc. Others would seem to 
have visions and revelations, which were not edify- 
ing, which were not congenial to the doctrine 
and spirit of the gospel. In short, a false and lying 
spirit seemed to be creeping into the Church.' '^ 

A general reason for these phenomena was the 
ubiquitous revival. In New York State the condi- 

88 < Autobiography,* p. 65. 



266 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

tion of the audience at the protracted meetings is 
described as a condition of panic.'' In the West 
about 1800 the movement was more widespread 
and more severe. 'It was not confined to one 
denomination/ says the historian, ^even phlegmatic 
New England Presbyterians of the Reserve were 
influenced.*' Matters went so far that the convul- 
sions were popularly classified into the falling, 
jerking, rolling and dancing varieties. The com- 
monest state was one of ecstasy, a loss of muscular 
power and of consciousness of external objects like 
protracted catalepsy. The most alarming manifes- 
tation was the 'jerking exercise' in which several 
hundred of both sexes were seized with involuntary 
contortions, while their bodies hurried over fallen 
trunks or pews and benches. No one restrained 
them, for restraint was thought to be resisting the 
Spirit of God. The spasms were involuntary, be- 
cause ' wicked men would be seized while guard- 
ing against them and cursing every jerk.*" Such 
were the more remote causes of the later mania, for, 
in the same place, the same conditions were aroused 
by the frenzied preaching of Rigdon. 

What occurred in 1830 was stranger than the 
events of a generation before. An account of an 
eyewitness presents the whole gamut of abnormal 

89 According to Prof. W. H. Brewer of Yale University. 
*o Howe, p. 189. 41 Howe, p. 189. 



JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 267 

psychology:" — •On the conversion of Rigdon, a 
most successful starting point was thought to have 
been obtained. Cowdery and his associates then be- 
gan to develop the peculiarities of the new imposi- 
tion. Scenes of the most wild, frantic and horrible 
fanaticism ensued. They pretended that the power 
of miracles was about to be given to all those who 
embraced the new faith, and commenced communi- 
cating the Holy Ghost, by laying their hands upon 
the heads of the converts, which operation, at first 
produced an instantaneous prostration of body and 
mind. Many would fall upon the floor, where they 
would lie for a long time, apparently lifeless. Thus 
they continued these enthusiastic exhibitions for 
several weeks. The fits usually came on, during or 
after their prayer meetings, which were held nearly 
every evening. — The young men and women were 
more particularly subject to this delirium. They 
would exhibit all the apish actions imaginable, mak- 
ing the most ridiculous grimaces, creeping upon 
their hands and feet, rolling upon the frozen 

*2 Ezra Booth's Letters to the Rev. Ira Eddy from Nelson, Portage 
County, Ohio, September, 1831 ; published in the Ohio S^ar, 
These letters were quoted by E. D. Howe whose book V Mormon- 
ism Unveiled,* was attacked by Smith in * Times and Seasons,' 
Volume III. But the letters, although written by a 'Jack- 
Mormon * have never been impeached, since this account was 
corroborated by the prophet himself. Compare 'Biographical 
Sketches,' p. 171, etc. 



268 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

ground, go through with all the Indian modes of 
warfare, such as knocking down, scalping, ripping 
open and tearing out the bowels. At other times, 
they would run through the fields, get upon stumps, 
preach to imaginary congregations, enter the water 
and perform all the ceremony of baptizing, etc. 
Many would have fits of speaking all the different 
Indian dialects, which none could understand. 
Again, at the dead hour of night, the young men 
might be seen running over the fields and hills in 
pursuit, as they said, of the balls of fire, lights, etc., 
which they saw moving through the atmosphere.'" 
The rest of the account may be condensed, for 
the subsequent * spiritual phenomena ' — less violent 
than these, took place under Smith's own auspices. 
There was first 'the gift of tongues,' — uncon- 
scious articulations declared by Joseph to be * the 
pure Adamic,'** but by an old trapper to be snatches 
of Indian dialects.*^ There was next the 'gift of 

43 Booth said these accounts were from his own observations in 
the Western Reserve or from testimonies of persons who still 
adhered to Mormonism. — Letter III. 

44 Cannon, p. 17. 

45 i ^^Q ;Yiii first notice the gifts of tongues, exercised by some 
when carried away in the spirit. These persons were apparently 
lost to all surrounding circumstances, and wrapt up in the contem- 
plation of things, and in communication with persons not present. 
They articulated sounds, which but few present professed to un- 
derstand; and those few declared them to be the Indian language. 
A merchant, who had formerly been a member of the Methodist 
society, observed he had formerly traded with the Indians, and he 
knew it to be their dialect.' 



JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 269 

interpretation/*^ — carried away in the spirit the 
subject would profess to read the Bible in different 
languages. There was also the 'gift of prophecy,' 
— mounted on a stump the ecstatic would fancy 
themselves haranguing their red brethren, and would 
imitate the Indian in look and manner. Finally 
there were alleged acts of clairvoyance, — young 
men would pretend to read celestial messages on the 
palms of their hands and the lids of their Bibles.*' 

46 Booth's Letters :— 

* Being myself present on one of these occasions, a person prof- 
fered his services as my interpreter, and translated these sounds to 
me which were unintelligible, into the English language. One 
individual could read any chapter of the Old or New Testament, 
in several different languages. This was known to be the case by 
a person who professed to understand those languages. In the 
midst of this delirium they would, at times, fancy themselves ad- 
dressing a congregation of their red brethren ; mounted on a 
stump, or the fence, or from some elevated situation, would ha- 
rangue their assembly until they had convinced or converted 
them. They would then lead them into the water, and baptize 
them, and pronounce their sins forgiven. In this exercise, some 
of them actually went into the water; and in the water, performed 
the ceremony used in baptizing. These actors assumed the visage 
of the savage, and so nearly imitated him, not only in language, 
but in gestures and actions, that it seemed the soul and body were 
completely metamorphosed into the Indian. No doi,ibt was then 
entertained but that was an extraordinary work of the Lord, 
designed to prepare these young men for the Indian mission.' 

47 Booth's Letters : — * Before these scenes fully commenced, 
however, Cowdery had departed for the country inhabited by 
the Indians, with the expectation of converting them to Chris- 
tianity by means of his new Bible, and miracles which he was 
to perform among them. These pretensions appeared to have 



270 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Another apostate, eight years an elder among the 
Mormonites, has given an account of similar doings 
among the Saints in England.*® He explains 
' tongues * as due to ignorance, excitement, and a 
lack of vocabulary.*^ Physiologically considered, 
this psychic Volapuk is another case of decentral- 
ization: the higher brain centres having temporarily 
lost their sway, there ensues a loss of rational self- 
taken possession of the minds of the young men in their aspira- 
tions. Three of them pretended to have received commissions to 
preach, from the skies, after having jumped into the air as 
high as they could.* 

48 Hawthornthwaite, 'Adventures among the Mormons,* 1857 
pp. 88-91. *At a meeting in Manchester an elder shuts his 
eyes and at the top of his voice exclaims : — * Oh, me, sontra von te, 
par las a te se, tcr mon te roy ken ; ran passan par du mon te ! 
Kros krassey pron proy praddey, sin von troo ta ! O me, sontrote 
krush krammon palassate Mount Zion kron cow che and America 
pa palassate pau pau pu pe ! Sontro von teli terattate taw ! ' This 
was interpreted as an exhortation to be humble and obedient; so 
was another * gift of tongues ' where a strange woman came in and 
spoke in Welsh.* 

4^ Hawthornthwaite says, * Those who speak in tongues are gen- 
erally the most illiterate among the Saints, such as cannot command 
words as quick as they would wish, and instead of waiting for a 
suitable word to come to their memories, they break forth in the 
first sounds their tongues can articulate, no matter what it is. 
Thus — some person in the meeting has told an interesting story 
about Zion, then an excitable brother gets up to bear his " testi- 
mony,'* the speed of speech increases with the interest of the sub- 
ject : " Beloved brethren and sisters, I rejoice, and my heart is 
glad to overflowing, — I hope to go to Zion, and to see you all there, 
and to — to — O, me sontro von te, sontro von terre, sontro von te. 
O me palassate te,*' * etc. 



JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 271 

control. In general the psycho-physical state of 
the Kirtland convulsionists was that to be found in 
a collection of religious visionaries.^ One young 
man admitted that he knew not what he did for 
two or three weeks. The general mental state is 
typified in the narrator's case: 'When I embraced 
Mormonism,' says Booth, 'I conscientiously be- 
lieved it to be of God. The impressions of my 
mind were deep and powerful, and my feelings 
were excited to a degree to which I had been a 
stranger. Like a ghost it haunted me by night and 
by day, until I was mysteriously hurried, as it were, 
by a kind of necessity into the vortex of delusion. 
— At times I was much elated; but generally, things 
in prospect were the greatest stimulants to action.' 
To turn to Smith's connection with these matters : 
if he was the originator of the abnormal perform- 
ances in New York, he was only the director of 
events in Ohio. Of the Kirtland branch, he says in 
his Journal, 'strange notions of false spirits had 
crept in among them. I soon overcame them with 
some wisdom.'" Despite this superior attitude, 
there is abundant evidence of the primitiveness of 
his own notions; he held nearly the animistic view 

50 A writer in the North British Review, 77, 112, in explaining 
the excesses of the Mormonites, draws analogies from Hecker's 
« Epidemics of the Middle Ages,* and Wilkinson's, * Revival in its 
Physical, Psychical and Religious Aspects,* i860. 

51 * Times and Seasons,' 3, 68. 



272 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

of the savage:^'' to him, as to the Indian medicine 
man, it was not the soul of the sufferer but the soul 
of a demon, which entered in and caused the havoc. 
The elements of such belief, as sustained by pop- 
ular mythology,^ and reinforced by a literal inter- 
pretation of Scripture, are present in Mother Smith's 
account. Speaking of the Kirtland branch of nearly 
one hundred members she cites, 

' The singular power, which manifested itself among 
them in strange contortions of the visage, and sud- 
den unnatural exertions of the body. This they sup- 
posed to be a display of the power of God. Shortly 
after Joseph arrived, he called the Church together, in 
order to show them the difference between the Spirit of 
God, and the Spirit of the Devil. He said, if a man 
arose in meeting to speak, and was seized with a kind of 
paroxysm, that drew his face and limbs, in a violent and 
unnatural manner, which made him appear to be in 
pain ; and if he gave utterance to strange sounds, which 
were incomprehensible to his audience, they might rely 
upon it, that he had the spirit of the devil. But on the 
contrary, when a man speaks by the Spirit of God, he 
speaks from the abundance of his heart — his mind is 
filled with intelligence, and even should he be excited, it 
does not cause him to do anything ridiculous or un- 
seemly. He then called upon one of the brethren to 
speak, who arose and made the attempt, but was imme- 
diately seized with a kind of spasm, which drew his face, 

52 Herbert Spencer, * Principles of Sociology,* i, 238. 
63 Compare Eggleston, pp. 16-23, *The evils" angels . . . 
descended from hobgoblins.* 



JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 273 

arms, and fingers in a most astonishing manner. Hyrum, 
by Joseph's request, laid hands on the man, whereupon 
he sunk back in a state of complete exhaustion. Joseph 
then called upon another man to speak, who stood lean- 
ing in an open window. This man also attempted to 
speak, but was thrown forward into the house, prostrate, 
unable to utter a syllable. He was administered to, and 
the same effects followed as in the first instance.' ^* 

Smith the opportunist again stands forth. Out 
of the morbid anatomy of his followers he drew 
hieratic authority to himself. He warns the Saints 
against being ' seduced by evil spirits, or doctrines 
of devils';^ and then goes on to inquire: — 

' Who can drag into daylight and develop the hid- 
den mysteries of the false spirits that so frequently 
are made manifest among the Latter-day Saints ? 
We answer that no man can do this without the 
Priesthood, and having a knowledge of the laws by 
which spirits are governed.'^® 

In the meanwhile, through these signs and 
wonders in Ohio, and through the exodus of Saints 
from New York" and the surrounding branches, the 
Church numbered two thousand. The fourth con- 



54 < Biographical Sketches/ pp. 17 1-2. 

55 « Book of Commandments,' Chapter 49. 

56 « Times and Seasons/ 3, 746. 

5*^ Compare * Book of Commandments/ Chapter 40, < A Revela- 
tion to the churches in New York, commanding them to remove 
to Ohio/ 



274 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

ference was held at Kirtland and several brethren 
were called by revelation to the office of High 
Priest/® There now occurred further manifesta- 
tions of the prophet's influence. June 4th, 1831, 
was set apart for * mighty works.' The Saints had 
been prepared by fasting and prayer, and by the 
prophecy that they would see the Lord face to 
face.^^ It is not asserted that the theophany came 
to pass, but other things did. By long speaking 
Smith and some others became much excited, hands 
were then laid on Elder Wright who arose and 
' presented a pale countenance, a fierce look, with 
his arms extended, and his hands cramped back, 
the whole system agitated, and a very unpleasant 
object to look upon.'^^ Nevertheless, the success in 
producing the ecstasy was not uniform. Some of 
the candidates felt the weight of Joseph's hands 
thrice before the thing was rightly done; finally 
the work got beyond his control and, as an eyewit- 
ness declared, — *then ensued a scene, of which 
you can form no adequate conception; and which, 
I would forbear relating, did not the truth require 
it. The elder moved upon the floor, his legs in- 

^8 * Handbook of Reference,* p. 40. 

^9 « Times and Seasons/ 5, 720, 'This is the word of the Lord to 
us ; on condition of our obedience He has promised us great things ; 
yea, even a visit from the heavens to honor us with His own 
presence.* 

«o Booth, Letter iv. 



JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 275 

dining to a bend; one shoulder elevated above the 
other, upon which the head seemed disposed to re- 
cline, his arms partly extended; his hands partly 
clenched; his mouth partly open, and contracted in 
the shape of an italic 0/ 

Without prolonging the agony of quotation it 
is happily evident that, within two months. Smith 
had learned how far to go in these matters. On 
August 3d, at the dedication of the temple, as 
one of the number relates, ' hundreds of Elders 
spoke in tongues, but many of them, being young 
in the Church, and never having witnessed the 
manifestation of this gift before, felt a little alarmed. 
This caused the Prophet Joseph Smith to pray the 
Lord to withhold the spirit.'" 

Tracing the inception and development of obsess- 
ion in the Mormon Church, it may safely be said 
that, as an exorcist. Smith at last reached the com- 
mon sense standpoint of repression. It was not so 
with his followers. From the acts of the Mormon 
apostles, at home and abroad, a complete popular 
demonology might be reconstructed. A few ex- 
amples may be cited to show that, although the 
prophet had ordained and dispatched his mission- 
aries,*^ he exercised little control over their doings. 

^^ Benjamin Brown, p. 1 1. 

S2 Compare * Book of Commandments,' Chapter 54, — « Let them 
go two by two, my servant Lyman (W.) and my servant John 
(C.) * — and twenty-six others. 



276 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

But it is better worth while to note how all this was 
preparatory to a wider role, how it all played into 
the hands of Joseph the faith healer. From the de- 
lusions of the patients and the misconceptions of 
the operators, one can get an idea of the material 
there was to work upon. 

To take certain typical cases, in their order: Parley 
Pratt narrates that in 1836, near Toronto, Canada, he 
found a woman prostrated by some power and in an 
agony of distress. She was drawn and twisted in 
every limb, and, despite repressive measures, would 
be so drawn out of all shape as to only touch the bed 
with her heels and head. She often cried out that 
she could see two devils in human form, who 
would bruise and pinch her, and she could hear 
them talk. But as the bystanders could not see 
them, but only the effects they did not know what 
to think. * Finally,' says Pratt, 'she runs to me for 
she said she knew she could be healed if she could 
but get a sight of the man of God.^ 

How the Mormon leaders lugged in an enginery 
of spirits to explain a group of morbid symptoms is 
further exemplified in Elder Kimball's letter of 
1837, on a 'singular circumstance.'" The scene 
was laid in Lancashire, England; when Kimball 

«3 Pratt, pp. 167-8. 

84 Elders Journal^ Vol. I, No. X ; compare Millennial 
Star, 16, 31, and also Kimbairs Journal, p. 20, — 'Brother 



JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 277 

attempted to lay hands on a brother afflicted with evil 
spirits, he began to 'tremble and reel to and fro, and 
fell on the floor like a dead man.' Then, as another 
elder explains, 'the devils were exceeding angry 
because we attempted to cast them out; they made 
a powerful attempt upon Elder Kimball and struck 
him senseless. But we laid our hands on him, he 
recovered his strength in part, and we could very 
sensibly hear the evil spirits rage and foam out their 
shame. Br Kimball was quite weak for a day or 
two after.' 

The medieval point of view, the utter ignorance 
of natural causes, the reading in of preconceived 
notions are all to be found in the parallel accounts.^ 

Russell called on Elder Hyde and me to pray for him, for 
he was so afflicted with evil spirits that he could not live long 
until he should obtain relief, we arose and laid hands on him and 
prayed. While I was thus engaged, I was struck with great force 
by some invisible power and fell senseless on the floor as if I had 
been shot, and the first thing I recollected was, that I was sup- 
ported by Brothers Hyde and Russell, who were beseeching a 
throne of grace on my behalf. They then laid me on the bed, but 
my agony was so great that I could not endure, and I was obliged 
to get out, and fell on my knees and began to pray. I then sat on 
the bed and could distinctly see the evil spirits, who foamed and 
gnashed their teeth upon us. We gazed upon them about an hour 
and a half. ... I perspired exceedingly, my clothes as wet as 
if I had been taken out of the river. . . . Weakness of body, 
from shock.' 

«* Woodruff, * Journal,* p. 85, gives a third account of the above 
episode. He says, in 1840: — * I had only just lain down, when it 
seemed as if a legion of devils made war upon us, to destroy us, 



278 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Moreover the operators were but once on the out- 
skirts of the truth, — that the mental influence of the 
bystanders has something to do with the matter. 
Curiously enough the latter instance happened in 
the year in which a London physician was utilizing 
in his practice the suggestive side of mesmerism.^ 
In 1839, in his mission to England, Elder Woodruff 
tried to cast a devil from a woman, *but,' he ex- 
plains, ' the unbelief of the wicked present was so 
great that we could not cast the devil out of her, 
and she raged worse than ever; when the room 
was cleared I succeeded, she was cured and fell 
asleep.' ^^ 

It was by virtue of 'faith' that Smith affected 
some alleviations of non-organic troubles; he had 

and we were struggling for our lives in the midst of this warfare 
of evil spirits until we were nearly choked to death.' — This scene 
is described a third time, with later embellishments, when Hyde 
writes to Kimball, May 22d, 1856: — * Every circumstance is fresh 
in my recollection. After you were overcome by them and had 
fallen, their awful rush upon me with knives, threats, imprecations 
and hellish grins convinced me that they were no friends of mine. 
While you were apparently senseless and lifeless on the floor 
. . . I stood between you and the devils and fought them and 
contended against them face to face. . . . The last imp turned 
and said, " I never said anything against you " — I replied — 
" Depart " — and the room was clear.' 

M Dr. Elliotson ; compare Moll, p. 361. 

67 * Journal,' p. 76. Brigham Young, * Journal,' p. 104, alleges 
the following as results of these * miracles ' : — < We landed in 1840, 
strangers and penniless. When we left, in less than two years, we 
had baptized between seven and eight thousand souls.' 



JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 279 

learned by experience the prime value of the sub- 
ject's attitude of trust. It was much less so with 
his ministers of healing. In 1844, in Virginia,^ 
after a Sunday service of baptism and confirmation, 
six elders had a ' contest with evil spirits/ It was 
presumably a case of hysterics, which ultimately 
spread and alternately affected three girls for thirty- 

68 « Early Scenes from Church History,' by H. G. B., pp. 13-15 : — 
« There lay the girl stretched upon a bed apparently lifeless, with- 
out breath or motion. ... As soon as I opened my mouth, I 
began to cast a devil out of her, which was farthest from my 
thoughts before I commenced. I commanded, . . . the evil 
spirit immediately departed from her, she being restored to her 
normal condition, seemingly as well as ever. Not ten minutes 
after, the same evil spirit entered another girl. . . . Elder 
Hamilton was mouth with myself in casting it out. ... A 
third young sister was attacked ... in the same way. . . . 
This third one was no sooner rid of the evil spirit, than it returned 
and took possession, the second time, of the one last before relieved 
of its power ; and when it was cast out from this one, it took pos- 
session of the third one again, and so on alternately, ... for 
three or four times. But the spirit never returned the second time 
to the first sister that was attacked that evening. At the end of 
two or three hours, we separated the two girls, ... as far as 
we could. . . . There were six of us in attendance. . . . 
While possessed with this evil spirit, the girls would sometimes lay 
in a trance, motionless, and apparently without breathing, till we 
were ready to conclude they were dead, then they would come to 
and speak and sing in tongues, and talk about Priesthood and the 
endowments. At other times they would choke up, ceasing to 
breathe until they were black in the face, and we thought they 
would surely die. Sometimes they would froth at the mouth and 
act like they were in a fit. If standing upon their feet when taken, 
they would fall to the floor and act like they were struggling for 
life with some unseen power. Read Mark 18 : 14-29.' 



28o THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

six hours. The narrator, at first, blundered into suc- 
cess, — without thinking, he commanded the devil 
to depart, and the girl was restored to her normal 
condition. When the hysteria became collective, 
and the imps seemed to play tag from one poor 
creature to another, the Mormon elders were as 
helpless as were the Puritan divines before the 
Salem witches. 

One more example will show the aboriginality of 
the Latter-day Saints* belief. Elder Hill, while a 
missionary among the Shoshone and Bannock 
Indians, found eight or nine of them possessed of 
the evil one.^^ In attempting to bestow upon them 
'baptism for the health,' he found that they had 
been practicing too much witchcraft and black art. 

Without entering upon the psychology of the 

•9 'Faith Promoting Series, No. 2,' pp. 91-2, 'Baptism for the 
Health * : — < There were in this county eight or nine who were 
possessed of the evil one, or something of that kind. The first of 
these was a large, strong woman. An Indian is no more afraid of 
water than a duck is, but when I raised this woman out of the 
water she wilted and dropped on my arm, as lifeless, to all appear- 
ance, as if she had been dead a week. — The old chief told me that 
these eight or nine cases had been practicing their witchcraft and 
working with their black art so much that he did not expect any- 
thing else of them. — Some of those that were operated upon in this 
way were men, and when I would raise them out of the water they 
would hang upon my arm breathless and as limber as a half filled 
sack of wheat. . . . The Lamanites are very much like other 
people : some of them have got faith and will be healed of any 
sickness, no matter how severe.' 



JOSEPH THE EXORCIST 281 

Lamanites, or citing more of these 'early scenes in 
church history/ ^^ one can understand how a regular 
Mormon demonology came, after a manner, to be 

'0 Benjamin Brown, in * Testimonies for the Truth/ in a later 
strange account of an exorcism, incidentally touches on the signific- 
ance of mental suggestion. Speaking of the Pomphret Branch 
where a * sister was possessed,* he says : — * Directly we entered her 
room, she called out, " Take your shoes from off your feet, this is 
Holy Ground, the Prophet Elijah is here." I saw the spirit by 
which she was influenced, so I walked up to her and said, " I am 
a servant of the Lord, I obey no command of the Devil." She be- 
came uproarious directly . . . she arose from the bed, on her 
feet, without apparently bending a joint in her body, stiff as a rod 
of iron. [After praying.] The evil spirit then came out full of 
fury, and as he passed by one of the brethren seized him by both 
arms, and gripped them violently, and passing towards me, some- 
thing which by the feel appeared like a man's hand, grasped me by 
both sides of my face, and attempted to pull me sideways to the 
ground, but the hold appearing to slip I recovered my balance 
immediately. My face was sore for some days after this. The 
other brother that was seized was lame for a week afterwards. As 
soon as this was done, the sister partially recovered, so much so 
that she obeyed anything I chose to tell her to do, whereas be- 
fore she was perfectly ungovernable. Still she seemed to be sur- 
rounded by some evil influence. This puzzled us, for we knew the 
spirit was cast out, but we learned the cause afterwards. Just then 
it was revealed to us that if we went to sleep, the Devil would 
enter one of the brethren. My nephew, Melvin Brown, neglected 
the warning, and composed himself to sleep in an armchair, while 
we were still watching with the sister. Directly he did so, the 
Devil entered into him, and he became black in the face and 
nearly suffocated. He awoke immediately, and motioned for us to 
lay hands on him, for he could not speak. We did so and the evil 
spirit then left him, and he recovered at once.' 

•Ji ' Address,' p. 35. 

^2 < Journal,' p. 84. 



282 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

formulated. Thus Whitmer avowed, * False spirits, 
which come as an Angel of Light, are abroad in the 
world,' " and Woodruff announced, — 'after a pow- 
erful attack of the enemy, — I estimate one hundred 
evil spirits to every person on earth whose whole 
mission and labor is to lead men to do evil.'" 



CHAPTER IX 
JOSEPH THE FAITH HEALER 



CHAPTER IX 

JOSEPH THE FAITH HEALER 

Mormon demonology led up to Mormon faith 
healing. If the Saints cast out devils in the name 
of the Lord, why could they not cast out diseases ? 
They tried the experiment as early as 1834. * When 
the cholera first broke out in the camp/ says Kim- 
ball, ' John S. Carter was the first who went for- 
ward to rebuke it, but himself was immediately 
slain. . . . Even brother Joseph, seeing the suf- 
ferings of his brethren, stepped forward to rebuke 
the destroyer, but was immediately seized with the 
disease himself/* This incident is significant, it 
shows up Smith in a new light. The prophet of 
the restoration of gifts,^ was now in the clutches of 
popular demand; he was a minister of healing, not 
because he knew any medicine, but because of the 
expectations of his adherents. However it is not 

' < Times and Seasons,* 6, 839. Compare also Brown, p. 45 : — 
When one elder ate mushrooms, president Richards * rebuked the 
poison.* 

2 Compare * Book of Commandments,* Chapter 26 : * Require 
not miracles, except casting out devils ; healing the sick ; and 
against poisonous serpents ; and against deadly poisons.* 

385 



286 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

entirely fair to make Smith a physician in spite of 
himself: notwithstanding early failure, through ig- 
norance and overconfidence, he was not always 
unsuccessful in the curative art. 

Circumstances did not always get the better of 
him ; within ten years he had learned how to allevi- 
ate considerable suflfering, in the sphere of non- 
organic troubles. It was his later limitation to dis- 
orders of this character which goes far to prove 
that, somehow or other, he had gained a crude but 
real knowledge of mental healing. What were the 
sources of his knowledge ? At first glance they ap- 
pear to be borrowed. Like other divine healers, 
male and female after their kind, the head of 
this Latter-day Church had his body physician. 
Dr. John C. Bennett was in good standing among 
the Saints for at least eight years; if he was not a 
quack, he was of the old school; he, then, may have 
given to Joseph a smattering of medical lore, but as 
to technical suggestive therapeutics he was decades 
behind the times.' 

The real origin of Joseph's faith healing is at- 

' Bennett signed himself M. D., and a member of the Medical 
Convention of Illinois ; in 1841 he was said to have been « favor- 
ably known for upwards of eight years by some of the authorities 
of the Church.* The Warsaw Signal said he came to Missouri 

* followed by evil report.* Bennett himself has something to say 
against the 'empirical prescriptions of charlatan practitioners.' 

* Times and Seasons,* i, 174; 2, 432. 



JOSEPH THE FAITH HEALER 287 

tributable to the usual mixture of heredity and 
religion. His father contended for 'the ancient 
order of things/ but, when his children needed 
'doctoring/ sent them to his wife; she in turn, as 
' Mother in Israel ' threw much physic at the suffer- 
ing Saints.* And, outside the Smith family, Mor- 
mon medicine was not one whit ahead of the 
kitchen-physic of Puritan days;* indeed the ancient 
doctrine of signatures — the theory of correspond- 
ences between drug and disease — was actually set 
forth in mystic fashion.® Finally an editorial in the 
Times and Seasons, recommended Indian herbs as 
more natural remedies than physicians' prescrip- 
tions.^ 

Again, all these notions appeared in religious 
guise among Joseph's progenitors. His mother's 
brother, Jason Mack, was the colonial medical par- 
son redevivus. About 1776 he was called a Seeker 
and believed that by prayer and faith the gifts of 
the gospel, enjoyed by the ancient disciples, might 
be attained; in a letter to his brother, dated 1835, he 
wrote: — 'But last, though not least, let me not 
startle you when I say, that, according to my early 



** Biographical Sketches,* pp. 57, 171. 

* Compare Eggleston, Chapter the Second, — Concerning Medi- 
cal Notions at the Period of Settlement. 

« Compare Tkg Star in the East^ published in Boston, 1846. 
'•Times and Seasons,' 5, 736. 



288 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

adopted principles of the power of faith, the Lord 
has, in His exceeding kindness, bestowed upon me 
the gift of healing by the prayer of faith, and the 
use of such simple means as seem congenial to the 
human system. The first of my peculiar success in 
this way was twelve years since, and from that date 
I have had little rest. . . . And when the 
learned infidel has declared with sober face, time 
and again, that disease had obtained such an ascend- 
ancy that death could be resisted no longer, that the 
victim must wither beneath his potent arm, I have 
seen the almost lifeless clay slowly but surely re- 
suscitated, and revive, till the pallid monster fled so 
far that the patient was left in the full bloom of 
vigorous health/® 

Smith's uncle practicing faith healing on his semi- 
communistic farm in 1823, doubtless led his nephew 
to have a try at the same thing; but with the latter 
there was greater promise of results. In the first 
place, the public was looking for wonders of heal- 
ing. The adjacent Oneida Community of Perfec- 
tionists announced, somewhat later, cures by faith;* 
but already western New York was thoroughly im- 
pregnated with restorationist views. In fact, the 
Irvingites sent a deputation to Smith, to express 

8 * Biographical Sketches,* pp. 21, 53. 

8 Compare Charles Nordhoff, * Communistic Societies of the 
United States,' New York, 1875. 



JOSEPH THE FAITH HEALER 289 

sympathy because of his assertion of the perpetuity 
of miracles in the Church.''' Furthermore, Joseph 
was bound to succeed in his new role, because he 
possessed a credulous clientage. Among his fol- 
lowers the examples of divine healing were as 
numerous as they were dubious. In particular, the 
Faith Promoting Series, although hardly to be con- 
sidered a literary source, is nevertheless a perfect 
mine of the marvelous, and out of these * serpentine 
windings of human life,' — to use Joseph's phrase, 
it is possible to extract some pertinent facts. 

Behind the apparatus of holy oil, consecrated 
flannels and the like, there is a dim apprehension of 
the power of mental suggestion. Thus faith is de- 
manded of both patient and bystander. *The Lord 
wants the meek and humble,' says Benjamin Brown, 
' many come with their hearts buckled up to the 
highest point of resistance, bitterly opposed to the 
truths of the Church, — and then require a miracle.' " 
Again there is demanded laying on of hands with 
vocal, or with silent prayer. Expressed technically, 
this is verbal or unconscious suggestion, which com- 
bined with the subject's expectation, produces effects 
varying with the fancy of the individual.^^ While 

10 McClintock and Strong, 6, 630. Compare Orson Pratt, • The 
Necessity of Miracles.* 

^^ 'Testimonies,' p. 12. 

12 Compare C. Lloyd Tuckey, * Psycho-Therapeutics or Treat- 
ment by Hypnotism,' New York, 1899, P- 747' 



290 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Elder Brown was praying over a man stricken with 
palsy — ' a warning influence, such as he had never 
felt before, extended down his palsied side/^ Again 
Philo Dibble narrates, how when Brother Newell 
Knight laid his hands on his head, but never spoke,— 

*I felt the spirit resting upon me at the crown of 
my head before his hand touched me, and I knew 
immediately that I was going to be healed. It 
seemed to form like a ring under the skin, and fol- 
lowed down my body. When the ring came to 
the wound, another ring formed around the first 
bullet hole, also the second and third. Then a ring 
formed on each shoulder and on each hip, and fol- 
lowed down to the ends of my fingers and toes and 
left me.' ^^ 

How transitory were these 'cures' is exempli- 
fied in the very case of the above operator. When 
Knight was dying, January nth, 1847, his wife told 
how *the elders came frequently and prayed for 
him. After each administration he would rally 

13 1 Testimonies,' p. 34. 

^4 G. Q. Cannon, * My First Mission,' p. 32. Compare Philo 
Dibble's * Narrative,' p. 84, * I was wounded by the mob with an 
ounce ball and two buck shot in the stomach and bled internally. 
Brother Newell Knight laid his right hand on my head, but never 
spoke.' Compare also Knight, * Journal,' p. 81, *I drew the bed 
curtain with one hand and laid the other upon his head, praying 
secretly in his behalf; he told me that as soon as I placed my hand 
upon his head, the pain and soreness seemed gradually to move as 
before as a power driving it, until in a few minutes it left his body.' 



JOSEPH THE FAITH HEALER 291 

and be at ease for a short time and then relapse 
again into suffering/'' That such divine heal- 
ing presented the usual dangers was to be ex- 
pected, when one only considers the delicate and 
elusive reactions of mental suggestion. So Elder 
Brown, when standing by a 'possessed sister,' as- 
serted * I knew the answer she was going to give, 
for I was possessed by a similar spirit/ How the 
Mormons, despite their * silent treatment,* slid by the 
truth of the force of auto-suggestion is shown in 
their attempts at explanation. Brown himself, raised 
up from a seeming deathbed by the prophet, asks 
the sceptical reader: — *Was it the power of the im- 
agination over the body that cured me, when 1 did 
not even hear Joseph's voice, or know that any 
operation on my behalf was going on, until I found 
myself well ? ' '• 

Mormon ignorance of elementary psychic phen- 
omena naturally got them into trouble. The mis- 
chief that one man could do is exemplified in the 
preposterous claims of Brown. Shortly before the 
time he tried to exorcise the possessed sister, he as- 
serted, 'I cure a man with a skull crushed by a 
tree; I cure a woman of cancer, she said the cancer 
worms felt like a thousand gimlets boring into her 
brain.' " The deadly tendencies of Mormon faith 

" 'Journal,' p. 93. " ' Journal,' pp. 18, 19. 

"•Journal,' p. 12. 



292 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

healing were recognized by their contemporaries. 
In Batavia, New York, in 1841, * after healing a deaf 
and dumb child, the enemies of truth,' says Thomp- 
son, * are doing their utmost to make people believe 
that no miracle has been wrought/'® In 1833, the 
Western Monitor of Fayette, Missouri, asks: * What 
would be the fate of our lives and property, in the 
hands of jurors and witnesses, who do not blush to 
declare, and would not upon occasion hesitate to 
swear that they have wrought miracles, and have 
been the subjects of miraculous and supernatural 
cures?'" In England the missionaries of healing 
called out a more legal, if not a more determined 
opposition.^" It was Elder Richards who exclaimed, 
'How absurd to have no other resource when ill 
but a physician.' While on the British mission, he 
advertised 'Bones set through Faith in Christ,' and 
Elder Phillips made this additional statement: 
'While commanding the bones, they came to- 
gether, making a noise like the crushing of an old 
basket.' '^ Along with charlatanry among the priest- 
hood, there was fatal credulity among the laity. 

>8 'Times and Seasons,' 2, 349, 516. 

^3 Quoted in * Times and Seasons,* 6, 833, as a * Proclamation of 
the Mob.' 

20 Compare Manchester Examiner and Times^ December 22d, 
1856, on the Rochdale Miracle, also the pamphlets : — 'Warning to his 
Parishioners by a Country Clergyman * ; « Failure of an Ordained 
Priest,' etc. 

81 Millennial Star ^ 12, 143. 



JOSEPH THE FAITH HEALER 293 

Lorenzo Snow, writing from London in 1841, said 
of Elizabeth Morgan, before her death : ' She con- 
tinually expressed a wish that no doctor should ad- 
minister her medicines; and particularly requested 
that no one should cast any reflection upon her 
dear husband and children because no doctor had 
been employed, for she wanted no physician but the 
Lord: " 

The fatuity of the Mormon missionaries is patent 
in their official organ ; the Millennial Star of Liver- 
pool cites a case of * cancer in the heart miraculously 
cured by baptism*; it gives, at the same time, a 
notice of Elder Hyde's death through the same 
disease. 

Things were different at headquarters in Amer- 
ica. Smith was a faith healer, but he recog- 

23 Millennial Star, 13, 109 ; 16, 63. Pratt adds the following 
telepathic frill : — ' At the same hour of the night Sister Bates, of 
this city, had an open vision in which she saw Sister Morgan stand- 
ing in full view before her, clothed in robes beautiful and white, and 
around about her head were clouds of glory, surpassing, etc. . . . 
It was not a dream but an open vision continuing some time. When 
the vision closed she immediately informed her husband of it.* 
Time does not seem to have given the Mormons any more sense. 
Thus, P. B. Lewis, writing about the smallpox in the Sandwich 
Islands in 1853, said 'scores have been swept away. We have 
sought to administer to the brethren through the power of our priest- 
hood, and our administration has almost universally been blessed 
to those who have taken our counsel. Some who were doing well, 
have been induced to take medicine, or bathe in cold water, and 
are now dead.' 



294 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

nized his limitations. He had acquired wisdom 
through hard knocks. In 1832, two years after the 
exorcism of Newel Knight, — *the first miracle in 
the church ' — the prophet was poisoned by some- 
thing he ate and claimed to have been instantly 
cured through the laying on of hands by Brother 
Whitney. This was explained, not by the means 
of relief nature had already taken, but by adminis- 
tration in the name of the Lord.^' But in 1834, hap- 
pening to be involved in the cholera epidemic, the 
prophet was not slow to learn that his powers were 
circumscribed. Speaking of the attack he said: 
' The cholera burst forth among us, even those on 
guard fell to the earth with their guns in their 
hands. ... At the commencement I attempted 
to lay on hands for their recovery, but I quickly 
learned by painful experience, that when the great 
Jehovah decrees destruction upon any people, makes 
known His determination, man must not attempt to 
stay His hand.' '* 

It is high time to approach the philosophy of 
Joseph's real accomplishments as faith healer. Back 
of his not unsuccessful practice he had a theory. In 
a single word, the potent force with him was faith : 
without it no cures are possible. This is the sub- 
stance of the seven Lectures ' originally delivered be- 

*3 « Times and Seasons,' 5, 626. 
*^ < Times and Seasons,' 6, 1 106. 



JOSEPH THE FAITH HEALER 295 

fore a Class of the Elders, in the School of the 
Prophets/ These discourses are vapid yet they 
have significance, — they contain adumbrations of 
the really vital principle in mental healing. This 
doctrine of faith was an approximation to the sub- 
jective attitude of trust demanded in suggestive 
therapeutics. Smith defines it at the start, both 
negatively and positively : — ' without it both mind 
and body would be in a state of inactivity; . . . 
as faith is the moving cause of all action in temporal 
concerns, so is it in spiritual; . . . but faith is 
not only the principle of action, but of power also, 
in all intelligent beings, whether in heaven or on 
earth.* ^ Like previous magic healers, from Para- 
celsus to Gassner,^^ Joseph's system was largely 
mystical; with him, healing was counted a sacer- 
dotal gift. Nevertheless he was wary in regard to 
his priestly function. When it was asked in 1842 
' what signs do Jo Smith give of his divine mission ? ' 
the prophet gave this delphic response: — 'The 
signs which God is pleased to let him give according 
as His wisdom thinks best.'^^ 

To turn from theory to practice, and to examine 
a half dozen faith cures, ranging from total failure 

25 Lecture I, verses lo, 12, 13. 

26 Bernheim, * Hypnotisme, Suggestion, Psycho-therapie,* Paris, 
189 1, pp. 14-20. 

27 * Evening and Morning Star,' i, 28. 



296 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

to permanent relief, and from a lonesome child to a 
crowd of adults. In the first case strange reliance 
was placed on external means; Joseph attempted to 
* cure by baptism ' Lydia Kimball, age eight, who 
shortly died of brain fever. ^^ This failure discloses 
two things : that, at this time. Smith was rashly ig- 
norant of the incurable, and also that he was far 
from knowing one of the general principles of sug- 
gestion, namely that children are less susceptible to 
mental treatment than are adults. ^^ Similar igno- 
rance is displayed in the next example, for it is only 
repeated suggestion and the continuous presence of 
the operator that can affect the restless mind of a 
child.^^ Kimball's account is in effect, as follows: 
When Joseph was in Far West, a child was taken 
sick, he laid hands on it, and it got better. As soon 
as Joseph went outside the house, the child was 
taken sick again. A second time he laid hands on 
it, and it recovered. ' This transpired several times 
and Joseph inquired of the Lord what it meant, 
when he had an open vision and saw the devil in 
person.' '' 

The third episode concerns an adult, but the allev- 
iation is only temporary. So far the two points of 

'8 Littlefield, * Reminiscences.' 

59 Compare Moll, p. 5 1 : ' Children up to about eight years of 
age can only be hypnotized with difficulty.' 
80 Compare Tuckey, p. 746. 
8> • Journal,' p. 80. 



JOSEPH THE FAITH HEALER 297 

interest are these: that the prophet, with his super- 
ior authority, had greater success than two elders 
who had already made the patient 'perfectly 
whole '; ^^ and that the subject, in his attempt at ex- 
planation, has no inkling of the fact that suggestion 
may reach the brain, other than through the sense 
of hearing. 'While at Commerce,' narrates Brown, 
'I was sick of swamp fever for two or three 
weeks. I was so far gone that I was quite senseless, 
and all thought I was dying. Joseph Smith laid his 
hands on me and commanded me to arise and walk 
in the name of the Lord. The first thing I knew, I 
found myself walking perfectly well.' ^* The trans- 
ient character of this cure, and the recurrence of 
the trouble, agree with the results of suggestive 
treatment. Suggestion may lower the temperature 
in fevers,^ but in those of a cyclic character, it 
merely diminishes the suffering and tones up the 
system.^* 

The next ' cure ' is as ephemeral as it is magical. 
Like so many of the Saints, living along the Mis- 

32 < Testimonies,' p. lo : — * My lake fever is cured by two elders ; 
whilst their hands were yet upon my head, I felt the disease re- 
move from my body, commencing at the pit of my stomach, mov- 
ing gradually upwards towards the hands of the elders, and I was 
made perfectly whole.' 

33 « Journal,' p. 19. 

34 R. O. Mason, * Hypnotism and Suggestion,' New York, 1901, 
p. 180. 

35 Bernheim, p. 234. 



298 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

souri River, the patient was presumably overcome 
by fever. It w^as claimed that he vs^as raised from 
his deathbed, yet he shortly has a relapse and 
needs further treatment. As Woodruff inoppor- 
tunely admits, Fordham faints at the sight of the 
mob, but revives under Joseph's influence. '^ Two 
accounts are given of the Fordham case and they 
agree in two important particulars: on the one 
hand, the edge is taken off the miracle from the fact 
of the previous use of remedies; on the other hand, 
Joseph's operations appear to have brought about a 
condition resembling artificially induced hypnotic 
sleep. Kimball tells how 'Joseph stepped to the 
bedside of brother Fordham, who was insensible 
and considered by the family to be dying. He 
looked him in the eye for a minute without speak- 
ing, then took him by the hand and commanded 
him to arise and walk. Fordham did so, threw off 
all bandages and poultices, ate a bowl of bread and 
milk, and followed us into the street.'" 

36 * Journal,' p. 65. 

37* Journal,' p. 82. Compare Woodruff, p. 62: — * Fordham was 
dying, his eyes were glazed, he was speechless and unconscious. 
Joseph asked Fordham if he did not know him. Fordham at first 
made no reply, but we could all see the effect of the Spirit of God 
resting upon him ; he then answered a low " Yes." He had the 
appearance of a man waking from sleep. Then Joseph com- 
manded in a loud voice, *' I command you to arise and be made 
whole." Fordham leaped from the bed, the healthy color came to 
his face, he kicked off the Indian meal poultices on his feet and 
ate a bowl of bread and milk.* 



JOSEPH THE FAITH HEALER 299 

The last of the individual cases is that of Mrs. 
Johnson of Hiram, Ohio. It has a negative interest 
because the environment was one of psychic hostil- 
ity. Yet the sceptical narrator himself admits the 
cure.^ The prophet being asked if he pretended to 
the performance of miracles, and answering that he 
had the ability only through God, Mrs. Johnson was 
suddenly introduced. Joseph was not taken aback, 
but with calm assurance he looked intently into the 
woman's eyes, then taking hold of her arm ' palsied 
by rheumatism,' he commanded her in a solemn 
voice to be made whole. The bystanders asserted 
that the patient at once found her arm under con- 
trol and that it remained thus, until her death fifteen 
years after. This cure, being well attested, is of 
course cited by the Mormons as miraculous, while 
their enemies put forward the usual half-baked ex- 
planation of animal magnetism. '^ 

A brief scrutiny of these cases will reveal to what 
degree they may be put in terms of reputable 

38 E. D. Howe, ' Mormonism Unveiled,' p. 104. 

89 Compare J. H. Kennedy, * Early Days of Mormonism,' p. 122, 
who quotes from a sermon preached in Hiram, O., on August 3, 
1870, by B. A. Hinsdale, then President of Hiram College : « The 
company were awe-stricken at the infinite presumption of the man, 
and the calm assurance with which he spoke. The sudden mental 
and moral shock — 1 know not how better to explain the well-at- 
tested fact — electrified the rheumatic arm. Mrs. Johnson at once 
lifted it up with ease, and on her return home the next day she 
was able to do her washing without difficulty or pain.* 



300 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

psycho-therapeutics. At first it is difficult to decide 
whether Smith's achievements were due to simple 
suggestion or hypnotic suggestion, for it is almost 
impossible to draw a sharp line between the two. ^ 
Suggestion without hypnosis is probable in the 
majority of instances, since the states of conscious- 
ness, ranging from lethargy to light sleep, were in- 
duced pathologically and not artificially, by the 
disease and not by the operator. Nevertheless real 
hypnotic suggestion may be postulated, if one ac- 
cepts the less occult definition of hypnosis as ' the 
production of a psychical condition in which the 
faculty of receiving impressions by suggestion is 
greatly increased.'*^ This would cover the various 
cases cited, for in the lightest stages of hypnosis 
there is no loss of consciousness, while good re- 
sults are effected even when the patient denies 
having felt any hypnotic influence. '^^ Again, real 
hypnosis is implied in the Johnson case, not simply 
because chronic rheumatism has yielded to hypnotic 
treatment, but because 'the immense power of 
hypnotic suggestion is shown by the fact that it 
succeeds in a large number of cases in spite of mis- 
trust.'*^ Still further, the above instances may be 
brought under hypnotism if suggestion is given its 

40 Moll, p. 318. 

41 Beinheim's definition, quoted in Tuckey, p. 748. 

42 Moll, p. 347. 

43 Moll, p. 347. 



JOSEPH THE FAITH HEALER 301 

full signification ; the word does not merely stand 
for an artful hint or insinuation, which increases the 
patient's receptivity, it also connotes a reinforcing 
of the subject's power to perform the suggested 
act.'^ Lastly, Smith's successes lay in the sphere of 
hypnotic successes, roughly defined as neuroses, 
for the alterations were psychic rather than 
organic.*^ 

But lest wisdom be attributed where wisdom 
was lacking, there is need of a final word of quali- 
fication. Smith's gift of healing was got by 
chance, it was magical in theory and sacerdotal in 
practice, nearer the middle ages than modern 
science. The prophet insisted on faith, his follow- 
ers believed in the priesthood, and both priest and 
people trusted in the efficacy of prayer. As already 
seen, faith with Joseph was no longer a mere youthful 
reaction against infidelity and dry scholasticism, but 
a positive means to gain an unthinking obedience. 
Moreover as to prayer, Smith directs his ' quorums 
of three ' to pray in succession and in successive 

44 Compare Tuckey, p. 748 : — * Suggestions have all the force 
of commands, and the patient will stretch every nerve to obey 
them. If he is told to move a paralyzed limb, or to speak after 
months of loss of voice, one can see what intense effort he puts 
into the attempt to comply. A stammerer making such effort will 
speak fluently, and a deaf person will distinctly hear a whisper.' 

45 Compare Thomas Ribot, * The Diseases of Personality,' 1894, 
P- 137- 



302 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

quorums, — and then to lay on hands.** But this 
psychic inductive method might easily be spoiled; 
as Brown said of a moment's inattention on the 
part of a single elder, — *this broke the chain of our 
union and strength.'*^ 

It was through the appeal to the emotional and 
unthinking side of human nature that the Mormons 
could employ their primitive machinery. Oftentimes 
the elders would anoint the patient with oil, although 
it was admitted that this could not reach the root of 
the disease.*^ Once Joseph descended to the use of 
the charm or talisman. Woodruff says that after 
Fordham was revived, — * then Joseph sends me with 
his red silk handkerchief to cure two children of a 
man of the world. I wipe their faces with it, and 
they are cured.' *^ 

The prophet used magic; he also sought the aid 
of mystery. Judging from the local admiration 
for the architectural abortion of Salt Lake City, 
the earlier Saints were capable of looking on even 
the Temple of Zion at Nauvoo as a holy shrine. 
At any rate, soon after the first log was laid, 
Smith called for a Recorder of Miracles.*^ Yet 
uninspiring surroundings were offset by the blind 

46 « Fragments of Experience,' p. 43, 

<■»' Journal,' p. 18. 

48 < Times and Seasons,' 5, 603. 

49 'Journal,' p. 65. 

**> * Times and Seasons,' 3, 439. 



JOSEPH THE FAITH HEALER 303 

zeal of the persons concerned. It was not material 
things but psychic processes that helped the most. 
Hence Joseph's manner of making the healing sug- 
gestion, to his disciples at least, was undeniably im- 
pressive. It was not in the opinion of Pratt alone 
that the prophet was ' of an expression pecuhar to 
himself, on which the eye naturally rested with in- 
terest, and was never weary of beholding.' " It was 
from the false perspective of emotional excitement 
that most of his followers looked on the person of 
their ecclesiastical head with reverence and awe. 
Indeed, these American sectaries were strangely like 
those who once sought to be healed of the king's 
evil; they lived in the nineteenth century, yet the 
great mass of them believed in the divine right of 
their ruler. Despite this kindred touch of madness, 
there were also present among the Mormons the more 
normal circumstances which favor mental healing, 
namely : the patient's desire to be cured, his belief 
in the means, and a sympathetic environment.^^ 

With the summary statement that the convinced 
mind works the quickest, it is possible to get at the 
significance of Smith's wholesale acts of faith heal- 
ing. In the two accounts of the scenes on the banks 

*»i * Autobiography,* p. 47. 

52 Tuckey, p. 743. 

53 Moll, p. 351, quoting Liebault and Schrenck-Notzing. 
^ * Journal,' p. 62. Compare Kimball, p. 82. 



304 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

of the Mississippi, the fabulous drops off of itself, as 
when, for example, it was alleged that the prevalence 
of chills and fever was due to the devil. There yet 
remains a slight residue of facts, which needs ex- 
planation, since it cannot be wholly explained away. 
The annual affair at Lourdes is a far call from the 
Nauvoo affair of sixty years ago, yet under both 
there is a thin stratum of truth. It may be expressed 
in the formula of recent practitioners: that collective 
hypnosis is possible among the ignorant classes and 
that, conversely, when the psychic contagion be- 
comes stronger, hypnosis is rendered easier.^' 

To turn, inconclusion, to the scene of July 22d, 
1839 : * It was a very sickly time, ' narrates Woodruff.^ 
' Large numbers of the Saints, driven out of Mis- 
souri, were flocking from Commerce and were living 
in wagons, tents and on the ground. Many were 
sick through exposure. Brother Joseph had waited 
on the sick until he was worn out and nearly sick 
himself. After praying, he healed all in his house 
and door yard; then in company with Sidney Rig- 
don and several of the twelve, he went through 
among the sick lying on the bank of the river, and 
he commanded them in a loud voice to come up and 
be made whole and they were all healed.' 



CHAPTER X 
FINAL ACTIVITIES 



CHAPTER X 

FINAL ACTIVITIES 

Smith's varied activities during the fifteen years of 
his public life/ give a final notion of the restlessness 
and instability of his character. It is impossible to 
gather up these scattered threads in one caption, but 
there is a common principle which binds together 
the events of 1830 w^ith those of 1844. The prophet 
began his career with a revelation on communism, 
he ended it with what may be termed a revelation 
on matrimonial collectivism. The latter topic, in 
the nature of the case, can only be touched upon, 
but the former is important in showing the hap- 
hazard mental development of the man. Unlike his 
occultism, Joseph's socialism may be traced to cert- 
ain formal movements of his day.* Besides this 
source there was another mind as intermediary. 

* Unless otherwise specified, the references in this chapter are to 
the ' Times and Seasons.* 

2 The following works have been consulted on this topic : R. T. 
Ely, * French and German Socialism in Modern Times,' New York, 
1833; H» ^' James, « Communism in America,' New York, 1879; 
Meredith Nicholson, «The Hoosiers,' 1900; Charles Nordhoff, 
•The Communistic Societies of the United States,' New York, 

307 



3o8 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

But to consider the historic setting in its general 
aspects. Of the six communistic societies of the 
United States, considered worth treatment by the 
authorities a generation ago, only half could have 
influenced young Mormonism. The Icarians settled 
at Nauvoo, but that was after the Mormon exodus. 
In New York State the Perfectionists had their Oneida 
community, but this combination of polygamy and 
polyandry was not started until 1848. Six years be- 
fore the German Inspirationists had their Amana 
community near Buffalo. These settlements may 
have given hints to Brigham Young the usurper, 
they were too late to influence Joseph Smith the 
founder. 

Turning to the other communistic societies, it 
should be incidentally noticed that all but those on 
the Wabash were celibate in their tendencies. As 
early as 1828, the United Society of Believers 
claimed sixteen branches in the land, and four years 
before the publication of the Book of Mormon, their 
Groveland Society was started on the Genesee. 
That these rustic doctrinaires gave hints to young 
Joseph is an open question. In 1842, he spoke of 
the Shakers with but half-concealed contempt; at 

1875 '> ^' ^- Sargent, * Robert Owen and his Social Philosophy,* 
London, i860; Albert Shaw, < Icaria, A Chapter in the History of 
Communism,' New York, 1884; Warner, * Cooperation Among the 
Mormons,* Johns Hopkins University Studies, 6th series, VII and 
VIII. 



FINAL ACTIVITIES 309 

any rate, nine years previous they refused to 
affiliate with the Latter-day Saints. The remaining 
semi-socialistic groups were of small size, but of 
great influence on Mormonism — and that through 
the medium of Sidney Rigdon. Near Pittsburg, the 
scene of his earlier activities, the Rappists founded 
their New Harmony Society, in 1805; they moved 
from Pennsylvania to Indiana in 18 14, and ten years 
after, sold out to Robert Dale Owen. Here comes 
in a most curious link between the father of English 
socialism and the man who was said to have ' in- 
vented * Mormonism.^ Rigdon was at one time hand 
in glove with the redoubtable Alexander Campbell, 
the same who had attacked Owen as an infidel, 
and had called his New Harmony Ga^ettey 'the 
focus of the lights of scepticism.'* That Owen's 
free and easy ideas on marriage cropped out in the 
Mormon spiritual wife system is improbable, but 
his socialistic notions were already common 
property. In 1824, he made speeches before Con- 
gress; in 1829, he held an eight day debate with 
Alexander Campbell in Cincinnati, Ohio, at which 
1,200 persons were said to be present. How the 
doctrines of Fourier worked their crooked way 
into Rigdon's cracked skull is a side issue: yet 
here, in the Western Reserve, there was a diluted 

3 New York Times, Saturday Review of Books, January li, 1902. 

4 Venable, p. 222. 



310 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

socialism a decade before the Brook Farm experi- 
ment. In view of these things, Smith's claim to 
socialistic originality is absurd; his followers were 
no more troubled about the theory of the thing than 
a hive of bees; but the prophet's appropriation of 
Rigdon's socialistic ideas is as patent as his grafting 
of Rigdon's Kirtland branch into his own church. 

The way the seer and revelator put a religious 
veneer on these borrowings is highly characteristic. 
Like the Separatists, who settled at Zoar, Ohio, in 
1819, a score of families in Rigdon's locality had al- 
ready formed themselves into a common stock 
company. Smith says that since Rigdon's Church 
at Kirtland 'had all things in common, the idea 
arose that this was the case with the Church of Jesus 
Christ.' He adds that the * plan of "Common 
Stock" which had existed in what was called "the 
family," . . . was readily abandoned for the 
more perfect law of the Lord.' Of what this ' law 
for the government of the Church ' consisted, is ex- 
plained in a revelation of February, 1831 : 

* If thou lovest me, thou shalt serve me and keep all my 
commandments. 

And behold, thou shalt consecrate all thy properties 
which thou hast to impart unto me with a covenant and 
a deed which cannot be broken ; 

And they shall be laid before the bishop of my church 
and two of the elders, such as he shall appoint and set 
apart for that purpose. 

And it shall come to pass, that the bishop of my 



FINAL ACTIVITIES 311 

church, after that he has received the properties of my 
church, that it cannot be taken from the church, he shall 
appoint every man a steward over his own property, or 
that which he has received, inasmuch as is sufficient for 
himself and family; and the residue shall be kept to ad- 
minister to him who has not, that every man may receive 
accordingly as he stands in need ; and the residue shall 
be kept in my storehouse, to administer to the poor and 
needy, as shall be appointed by the elders of the church 
and the bishop; and for the purpose of purchasing 
lands, and the building up of the New Jerusalem, which 
is hereafter to be revealed ; that my covenant people be 
gathered in one, in the day that I shall come to my 
temple ; and this I do for the salvation of my people. 
And it shall come to pass, that he that sinneth and re- 
penteth not, shall be cast out, and shall not receive again 
that which he has consecrated unto me ; for it shall come 
to pass, that which I spoke by the mouths of my prophets 
shall be fulfilled, for I will consecrate the riches of the 
Gentiles unto my people, which are of the house of 
Israel.^ 

The form which the law of the Lord ultimately 

took reads like a page from Gulliver's Travels ; it 

is worth quoting, if only to show that the fancy of 

the Latter-day prophet was as weird as the mad 

dean's Kingdom of Laputa : — 

'Revelation given April 23d, 1834, to Enoch, (Joseph 
Smith, jun.,), concerning the order of the church for 
the benefit of the poor. Let my servant Pelagoram (Sid- 
ney Rigdon) have appointed unto him the place where 
he now resides, and the lot of Tahhanes (the tannery) 
for his stewardship, for his support while he is laboring 

5 * Book of Commandments/ Chapter 44. For the financial side 
of these revelations compare 'Doctrine and Covenants,' §§ 19, 24, 
43» 58, 63, 84. 



312 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

in my vineyard, even as I will when I shall command 
him; 

And let my servant Mahemson (Martin Harris) devote 
his moneys for the proclaiming of my words, according 
as my servant Gazelam (Joseph Smith, jr.) shall direct. 

And let my servant Olihah (Oliver Cowdery) have 
the lot which is set off joining the house, which is to 
be for the Laneshine-house, (printing office), which is 
lot number one, and also the lot upon which his father 
resides. 

After you are organized, you shall be called the 
United Order of the Stake of Zion, the city of Shine- 
hah. (Kirtland.) And your brethren, after they are 
organized, shall be called the United Order of the City 
of Zion/ 

But the prophet's schemes had a serious financial 
side. The first tithing, in 1834 is said to have been 
only a * conditional covenant with the Lord.' This 
celestial application of the promissory note should 
be compared w^ith the 

* Revelation given at Far West, July 8th, 1838, in an- 
swer to the question : O Lord, show unto thy servants 
how much thou requirest of the properties of the people 
for a tithing ? 

Verily, thus saith the Lord, I require all their surplus 
property to be put into the hands of the bishop of my 
church of Zion, 

For the building of mine house, and for the laying of 
the foundation of Zion and for the priesthood, and for 
the debts of the presidency of my church ; 

And this shall be the beginning of the tithing of my 
people ; 

And after that, those who have thus been tithed, shall 
pay one-tenth of all their interest annually; and this 
shall be a standing law unto them for ever, for my holy 
priesthood, saith the Lord.* 



FINAL ACTIVITIES 313 

When Smith ridiculed the Millerites for their mill- 
ennial fears, he had forgotten the early financial 
panic in his own church. In their haste to escape 
the wrath to come, many of the Saints sold their 
eastern possessions at a loss, and hastened to Zion 
as to the ark of safety, — * for after much tribulation 
cometh the blessings ' said the prophet. A revela- 
tion of August, 1 83 1, gives the details of the coming 
' feast of fat things ' : — 

' And I give unto my servant, Sidney, a commandment, 
that he shall write a description of the land of Zion, 
and a statement of the will of God, as it shall be made 
known by the Spirit, unto him ; 

And an epistle and subscription, to be presented unto 
all the churches to obtain moneys, to be put into the 
hands of the bishop, to purchase lands for an inheritance 
for the children of God, of himself or the agent, as 
seemeth him good or as he shall direct. 

For behold, verily I say unto you, the Lord willeth 
that the disciples, and the children of men should open 
their hearts, even to purchase this whole region of coun- 
try, as soon as time will permit.' 

The project on which the leaders slipped up was 
the Kirtland Safety Society Bank. There are oc- 
casionally to be seen the notes of this institution, 
signed — 'J. Smith, Jr., Cashier, Sidney Rigdon, 
President.* Some one has sardonically called atten- 
tion to the engraving on these bank notes, repre- 
senting a fleeced sheep. But the fancy does not 
come up to the fact. In entire conformity to the 
wild-cat speculations of ante-bellum days, the 



314 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

prophet announced that this bank would ' swallow 
up all other banks/ How it failed for $100,000/ 
and how Smith took advantage of the bankruptcy 
laws is not half so illuminating as the way in which 
the church conference 'moved and seconded that 
the debts of Kirtland should come up no more.' 
Joseph's prophetic fmanceering was one of the 
reasons why the Mormons were at last driven from 
Ohio. But even the seer and revelator could not 
fool all the people, all the time. He opened up a 
subscription to the *Nauvoo House, — a delightful 
habitation for man, and a resting place for the 
weary traveller.' But subscriptions came in slowly, 
for the thrifty Saints were not yet under the paw of 
Brigham. As Parley Pratt so plaintively remarked, 
' a woman comes here and keeps her money sewed 
up in her stays, instead of entering into business 
with it.' 

These communistic ambitions died hard. Backed 
up by restorationist expectations, they made an 
irresistible appeal to Joseph's imagination. Those 
Utopian schemes, that Josiah Quincy mentioned, 
had long been fermenting in the prophet's brain, 
and were now put on paper. If a literary compari- 
son is allowable. Lord Verulam with his New At- 
lantiSy or Campanella with his City of the Sun could 
not hold a candle to Smith with his new Mormon 

^ MilUnmal Star^ 19, 343; 20, 108. 



FINAL ACTIVITIES 315 

Zion, soon to arise on the Western Frontiers. By 
the revelation of June 25, 1833, a square mile of 
land was to be obtained and on it were to be built 
'a house of the Lord for the presidency of the high 
and most holy priesthood after the order of Mel- 
chisedec; the sacred apostolic repository for the use 
of the bishop; the holy evangelical house, for the 
high priesthood of the holy order of God; house of 
the Lord for the elders of Zion ; house of the Lord 
for the presidency of the high priesthood; house of 
the Lord for the high priesthood after the order of 
Aaron; house of the Lord for the teachers in Zion; 
house of the Lord for the deacons in Zion/ ^ 



^ Compare Bancroft, p. 96 : — * A plan and specifications for the 
new city of Zion were sent out from Kirtland. The plot was one 
mile square, drawn to a scale of 660 feet to one inch. Each 
square was to contain ten acres, or 660 feet fronts. Lots were to 
be laid out alternately in the squares ; in one, fronting north or 
south ; in the next east or west ; each lot extending to the centre 
line of its square, with a frontage of sixty-six feet and a depth of 
330 feet, or half an acre. By this arrangement in one square the 
houses would stand on one street, and in the square opposite on 
another street. Through the middle of the plot ran a range of 
blocks 660 feet by 990 feet set apart for the public buildings, and 
in these the lots were all laid off north and south, the greatest 
length of the blocks being from east to west : thus making all the 
lots equal in size. The whole plot was supposed to be sufficient for 
the accommodation of from 15,000 to 20,000 people. All stables, 
barns, etc., were to be built north or south of the plot, none being 
permitted in the city among the houses. Sufficient adjoining 
ground on all sides was to be reserved for supplying the city with 
vegetables, etc. All streets [were to be 132 feet (eight perches) 



3i6 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

But the work dragged on ; eight years later the 
prophet, writing from the city of Nauvoo, urged 
the brethren to come in without delay, for this was 
the corner-stone of Zion; ' here the Temple must be 
raised, the University built, and other edifices be 
erected which are necessary for the great work of 
the last days/ In the meantime, word was sent to 
' the Saints in England who are extremely poor and 

wide, and a like width was to be laid off between the temple and 
its surrounding streets. But one house was to be built on a lot, 
and that must front on a line twenty-five feet from the street, the 
space in front to be set out with trees, shrubs, etc., according to 
the builder's taste. All houses to be of either brick or stone. The 
house of the Lord for the presidency was to be sixty-one feet by 
eighty-seven feet, ten feet of the length for a stairway. The in- 
terior was so arranged as to permit its division into four parts by 
curtains. At the east and west ends were to be pulpits arranged 
for the several grades of president and council, bishop and council^ 
high priests and elders, at the west; and the lesser priesthood, 
comprising presidency, priests, teachers, and deacons, at the east. 
Provision was also made to seat visiting officers according to their 
grades. The pews were fitted with sliding seats, so that the audi- 
ence could face either pulpit as required. There was to be no gal- 
lery, but the house was to be divided into two stories of fourteen 
feet each. A bell of very large size was also ordered. Finally, 
on each public building must be written Holiness to the Lord. 
When this plot was settled, another was to be laid out, and so on. 
" Times and Seasons," vi. 785-7, 800. Zion City — its prototype in 
Enoch's City. Young's " History of the Seventies," 9-15, No. 10, 
in " Mormon Pamphlets." It was revealed to Smith that the waters 
of the Gulf of Mexico covered the site of a prehistoric city, built by 
and named for Enoch ; and that it was translated because its in- 
habitants had become so far advanced that further earthly residence 
was unnecessary. Zion, Smith's ideal city, was finally to reach a 
like state of perfection.' 



FINAL ACTIVITIES 317 

not accustomed to the farming business . . . 
this place has advantages for manufacturing and 
commercial purposes, which but very few can 
boast of; and by establishing cotton factories, foun- 
dries, potteries etc., etc., would be the means of 
bringing in wealth and raising it to a very important 
elevation/ 

At this time, the president of the church com- 
plained of being overwhelmed with a multiplicity 
of business. To run over his Journal, and to ex- 
tract but one event a year, will give an idea of the 
number of irons he had in the fire. Besides the 
United Firm and the Safety Bank, he had already 
started the Literary Firm and the Mercantile Estab- 
lishment. In 1833, he dedicated the printing office 
of the Latter-day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, 
In 1834, he organized the First High Council of the 
Church of Christ, with himself, Rigdon and Wil- 
liams as the First Presidency. In 1835, he chose 
the Twelve Apostles, among whom were Brigham 
Young, the Lion of the Lord; Parley Pratt, the 
Archer of Paradise; and Lyman Wight, the Wild 
Ram of the Mountain. In 1836, Smith organized 
the several quorums, first the Presidency, then the 
Twelve, and the Seventy, also the counsellors of 
Kirtland and Zion. In 1837, he set apart apostles 
Kimball and Hyde to go to a mission to England, 
the first foreign mission of the Church. In 1838, 



31 8 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

during the Missouri troubles, he traveled as far 
away as Monmouth County, New Jersey, to 
strengthen the new branches. Returning to Mis- 
souri, and being confined in Liberty Jail, Clay 
County, he warned his followers against starting 
any more secret societies. In 1839, the prophet had 
his hands full in assisting fifteen thousand perse- 
cuted saints to escape from Missouri, In 1840, he 
succeeded in obtaining from the Illinois legislature 
charters for the City of Nauvoo, the University of 
Nauvoo, and the Nauvoo Legion.® 

Joseph Smith, junior, now gained a title of which 
he was immensely proud, — he became a lieutenant- 
general. * Amid loud peals from the artilery,* runs 
the official account, 'accompanied by his aids-de- 
camp and conspicuous strangers, he laid the chief 
corner-stone of the Temple of our God.' Joseph as 
a military bishop cuts a strange figure. Once when 
his companions in arms were in dread of the mob, 
who were disguised as Delaware Indians, 'the 
prophet came along and said **God and liberty is 
the watchword. Fear them not, for their hearts are 
cold as cucumbers.'"* 

General Joseph Smith dressed in full uniform 
standing on the top of a house, brandishing his 
sword towards heaven, and delivering his last pub- 

8 Compare « Revised Laws of the Nauvoo Legion,' 1844. 

9 Stevenson, « Reminiscences,* p. 37. 



FINAL ACTIVITIES 319 

lie speech, — this is Joseph the histrione.^*^ But to 
the rank and file life was not an opera bouffe. 
Their very enemies acknowledged their terrible 
sufferings undergone in Missouri, while in 1841 the 
Chicago Democrat regrets to learn that Illinois is 
beginning to persecute the saints in the Bounty 
Tract." Of the way the prophet became involved 
in politics, only brief notice can be given. While 
mayor of Nauvoo, Smith was accused of attempt- 
ing to found a military church; he replied that the 
Nauvoo Legion was not got up for sinister or illegal 
purposes, yet in general orders he invites recruits 

>o«The Martyrs,' pp. 59-61. 

"'Joseph the Seer,' p. 191 : — 'Professor Turner, sometime of 
Illinois College, an open and bitter opponent of the Church of the 
Latter-day Saints, in writing of the conduct of Missouri towards the 
Mormons, says: "Who began the quarrel? Was it the Mor- 
mons ? Is it not notorious, on the contrary, that they were hunted 
like wild beasts, from county to county, before they made any 
desperate resistance ? Did they ever, as a body, refuse obedience 
to the laws, when called upon to do so, until driven to desperation 
by repeated threats and assaults from the mob ? Did the State ever 
make one decent effort to defend them as fellow citizens in their 
rights, or to redress their wrongs ? Let the conduct of its gover- 
nors, attorneys, and the fate of their final petitions answer. Have 
any who plundered and openly massacred the Mormons ever been 
brought to the punishment due to their crimes ? Let the boasting 
murderers of begging and helpless infancy answer. Has the State 
ever remunerated, even those known to be innocent, for the loss 
of either their property or their arms ? Did either the pulpit or 
the press throughout the state raise a note of remonstrance or 
alarm ? Let the clergymen who abetted, and the editors who en- 
couraged the mob answer." ' 



320 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

from all his friends and adds in italics, — ' If we de- 
sire to avoid insult we must be ready to repel it' 

It was as a political agitator that the prophet took 
up a role that indirectly led to his death. Nothing 
could show better the reach of his schemes than the 
following document : — 

' Duty of the Saints in relation to their persecutors, as 
set forth by Joseph, the Prophet, while in Liberty Jail, 
Clay County, Missouri, March, 1839 : — And again, we 
would suggest for your consideration the propriety of all 
the saints gathering up a knowledge of all the facts, and 
sufferings and abuses put upon them by the people of this 
state ; 

And also of all the property and amount of damages 
which they have sustained, both of character and per- 
sonal injuries, as well as real property ; 

And also the names of all persons that have had a hand 
in their oppressions, as far as they can get hold of them 
and find them out ; 

And perhaps a committee can be appointed to find out 
these things, and to take statements, and affidavits, and 
also to gather up the libelous publications that are afloat, 

And all that are in the magazines, and in the encyclo- 
pedias, and all the libelous histories that are published, 
and are writing, and by whom, and present the whole 
concatenation of diabolical rascality, and nefarious and 
murderous impositions that have been practiced upon this 
people. 

That we may not only publish to all the world, but 
present them to the heads of government in all their dark 
and hellish hue, as the last effort which is enjoined on us 
by our Heavenly Father, before we can fully and com- 
pletely claim that promise which shall call him forth from 
his hiding place, and also that the whole nation may be 
left without excuse before he can send forth the power of 
his mighty arm.' 



FINAL ACTIVITIES 321 

To sum up Joseph's manifold worldly activities 
from his community storehouse in Ohio, to his prop- 
osition to establish a territorial government, within 
the bounds of the State of Illinois,'^ to do this — is to 
run upon a paradox: he was jack-of-all trades, yet 
withal master of his followers. His death was 
counted a martyrdom; his name was speedily 
canonized; in his portraits a halo was drawn about 
his head. How the prophet gained his supremacy, 
how he met disaffection, how at the last his hold on 
the faithful became absolute, is a story that needs 
telling. Smith's relations to his aiders and abettors 
must here be touched upon. One defender says 
that Joseph's 'easy good-natured way, allowing 
every one was honest, drew around him hypocrites, 
false brethren, apostates; for they having mingled 
in his greatness, knew where and when to take ad- 
vantage of his weakness,' 

Relying on statements like these, some critics 
have explained the success of early Mormonism 

13 Compare engrossed petition in Berrian collection, in which it 
is proposed that the Mayor of Nauvoo, [Joseph Smith, junior] 
shall have the power *to call to his aid a sufficient number of 
United States forces, in connection with the Nauvoo Legion, to 
repel the invasion of mobs, keep the public peace, and protect the 
innocent from the unhallowed ravages of lawless banditti that es- 
cape justice on the Western Frontier ; and also to preserve the 
power and dignity of the Union. And be it further ordained that 
the officers of the United States Army are hereby required to obey 
the requisitions of this ordinance.* 



322 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

as due to Smith's luck in the choice of partners. 
As Harris had supplied the money, so Pratt sup- 
plied the eloquence, and Rigdon the brains. The 
antithesis is too neat to be true. Smith may have 
been the unwitting tool of the precious pair from 
Kirtland, yet from the first the author and pro- 
prietor of the Book of Mormon stood in the fore- 
ground. Again, to make Rigdon the chief actor, 
speaking through the mask of the prophet, is a 
self-contradiction. Thus the revelation of August, 
1 83 1, says, in part — 'And now behold I say unto 
you, I the Lord am not pleased with my servant 
Sidney Rigdon, he exalted himself in his heart, 
and received not my counsel, but grieved the 
Spirit: wherefore his writing is not acceptable 
unto the Lord.' A little while after this. Smith thus 
rebuked, in his own name, another of his associates : 
— 'William E. McLellin, the wisest man, in his 
own estimation, having more learning than sense, 
endeavored to write a commandment like unto one 
of the least of the Lord's, but failed. . . . The 
elders and all present, that witnessed this vain at- 
tempt, renewed their faith in the truth of the com- 
mandments and revelations which the Lord had 
given to the church through my instrumentality. ' 

But even before Rigdon and Company had ap- 
peared in New York State, Smith was asserting his 
supremacy. In the second conference of the church 



FINAL ACTIVITIES 323 

held at Fayette, while as yet only First Elder, Joseph 
succeeded in suppressing competition in occult 
activities. When Hyrum Page received revelat- 
ions through his rival 'stone,' the prophet v/as *in 
great distress of mind and body, and scarcely knew 
how to meet the exigency/ Newel Knight, who 
occupied the same room with him, goes on to say 
that, after considerable investigation and discussion, 
the prophet induced 'Brother Page, Oliver Cow- 
dery and the Whitmers to renounce the bogus 
stone. * '' Soon after this, the same narrator proceeds, 
there was a division of feeling in the Colesville 
branch, because Sister Peck contradicted one of 
Joseph's revelations. The brethren and sisters were 
thereupon told that ' they must repent of what they 
had done, renew their covenants and uphold the 
authorities placed over them.* 

But to hurry through the tale: In 1833, Smith 
was accused of seeking after monarchical power 
and authority; in pantomimic answer he instituted 
the ceremony of washing feet, 'girding himself 
with a towel and washing the feet of the elders.' 
In 1836, a great apostasy took place in the church 
at Kirtland, and within three years the Three Wit- 

13 « Journal,' pp. 64, 65. Compare * Book of Commandments,' 
Chapter 30 : — * And again thou shalt take thy brother Hiram be- 
tween him and thee alone, and tell him that those things which he 
hath written from that stone are not of me, and that Satan de- 
ceiveth him.* 



324 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

nesses were cut off. In the excommunication 
David Whitmer, the anti-polygamist, is com- 
pared to Balaam's ass, Martin Harris is called a 
negro with a white skin, while all the ' disenters,' says 
the prophet * are so far beneath my contempt that 
to notice any of them would be too great a sacrifice 
for a gentleman to make.' ^* 

In view of the fact that most Mormon converts 
were of Anglo-Saxon stock, it is almost incon- 
ceivable that Smith retained any influence over 
them.'* Yet in the midst of the Missouri troubles, 

14 * Elders' Journal,' 1837. 

** Yet compare Bancroft, p. 82 : — < The earliest clerk service 
rendered the prophet Joseph, of which there is any account, was 
by Martin Harris ; Joseph's wife, Emma, then Oliver Cowdery, 
who, as is claimed, wrote the greater portion of the original manu- 
script of the " Book of Mormon," as he translated it from the gold 
plates by the urim and thummim which he obtained with the 
plates. In March, 1831, John Whitmer was appointed to keep the 
church record and history continually, Oliver having been ap- 
pointed to other labors. Whitmer was assisted, temporarily, on 
occasions of absence or illness by Warren Parrish. At a meeting 
of high council at Kirtland, Sept. 14, 1835, ^^ "^^^ decided that 
" Oliver Cowdery be appointed, and that he act hereafter as re- 
corder for the church," Whitmer having just been called to be 
editor of the Messenger and Advocate, At a general conference 
held in Far West, April 6, 1838, John Corrill and Elias Higbee 
were appointed historians, and George W. Robinson " general 
church recorder and clerk for the first presidency." On the death 
of Elder Robert B. Thompson, which occurred at Nauvoo on the 
twenty-seventh of August, 1841, in his obituary it is stated: 
" Nearly two years past he had officiated as scribe to President 
Joseph Smith and clerk for the church, which important stat- 



FINAL ACTIVITIES 325 

of which the prophet was no small cause, the ab- 
negation of the faithful remnant was well-nigh 
absolute. Governor Boggs, 'knave, butcher and 
murderer,' as Joseph called him, had just issued 
his 'exterminating order/ when the folowing 
episode took place, says Elder Stevenons: — 'In 
order to show how particular the prophet was 
regarding the revelations which he received from 
the Lord, I will relate an incident which occurred in 
Liberty Jail. While the prophet was receiving a 
revelation, the late Bishop Alexander McRae was 
writing as Joseph received it. Upon this occasion 
Brother McRae suggested a slight change in the 
wording of the revelation, when Joseph sternly 
asked: "Do you know who you are writing for?" 
Brother McRae, who at once discovered his mistake, 
begged the prophet's pardon for undertaking to cor- 
rect the word of the Lord.' '^ 

Smith spoke ex-cathedra; he also made assump- 
tions as to temporal power. But theocracy was no 
sinecure in the far West. From the sentimental 
point of view, the persecutions of the Saints in 

ions he filled with that dignity and honor befitting a man of God." 
During the expulsion from Missouri, and the early settlement of 
Nauvoo, James MulhoUand, William Clayton, and perhaps others 
rendered temporary service in this line until the 13th of December, 
1 84 1, when Willard Richards was appointed recorder, general 
clerk, and private secretary to the prophet.* 
^8 * Reminiscences,* p. 42. 



326 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Missouri mobs deservedly called out sympathetic 
mass-meetings in the East." As to the political 
merits of the case, the psychologist is obliged to 
make a Missouri compromise, — if some of the 
Borderers were ruffians, some of the Saints were 
sinners. But as regards the person of the founder 
of Mormonism, the conflict between church and state 
must have had far-reaching effects. As some out- 
sider, who saw the prophet at the time, expressed it, 
'Joseph Smith then endured bodily affliction and great 
mental suffering.' But Joseph's struggles with a 
cruel world were not confined to one year; they were 
spread over a dozen. From the time he was tarred 
and feathered in Ohio by ' a banditti of blacklegs, 
religious bigots, and cut-throats,' to the time he was 
' kidnapped in Missouri through the diabolical 
rascality of Boggs,' — he was not only pestered with 
forty-nine civil suits, but was so harried about that 
once, when moving to a new place, he spoke of 
being attacked by ' the first regular mob.' 

A final ticklish question now comes up. Consid- 
ering Joseph Smith's abnormal ancestry, his emo- 



*7 Knight, p. 83, * One large party of women and children, pro- 
tected only by six men, wandered into the prairie south, and their 
tracks could be followed by the blood stains on the ground ; the 
prairie grass had been burnt, and the sharp stubble lacerated their 
uncovered feet, cutting and wounding them in a terrible manner; 
thus they wandered about for several days.* 



FINAL ACTIVITIES 327 

tional environment, and his lifelong instability, was 
not his mind, at the last, seriously affected ? 

The prophet's utterances within a few months of 
his death read like the utterances of a madman, yet 
political aspirations may have turned his head in 
only a figurative sense. His references to * cata- 
mount politicians * and the * imbecility of American 
statesmen' may have been the mere pleasantries of 
the stump-speaker, yet his acts during these times 
betoken more than a restless fancy. Again and 
again he went far out of his way in pursuit of his 
visionary aims. He called on President Van Buren, 
with a claim on the public treasury amounting to 
$i,38i,044.55>^. Having failed to obtain redress 
from Congress, Smith penned a letter of inquiry to 
Henry Clay, asking: * What will be your rule of 
action relative to us as a people, should fortune 
favor your ascension to the chief magistracy ? ' ^* 
The reply from Ashland was courteous, but non- 
committal. Smith thereupon retorted with an 
abusive letter, called the Whig candidate a black-leg, 
and — ran for President himself. 

The Times and Seasons pushed the Smith-Rigdon 
ticket, and urged the Saints to vote for ' Joseph 
Smith, the smartest man in the United States.' On 
February 7th, 1844, the prophet completed his ad- 
dress entitled, J/^iews of the Powers and Policy of 

" « The Martyrs,' p. 50. 



328 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

the Government of the United States, reinforcing 
his arguments with quotations from various docu- 
ments, authors and languages, — among others the 
Constitution, Addison, French, Webster, Italian, 
Adams the elder, Thomas Jefferson, Madison, Mon- 
roe, Hebrew, the Magna Charta, Adams the younger, 
Jackson, Latin, Chaldean, Dutch and Greek. 

Whether Smith was now actually demented is for 
the alienist to decide. But adding his latest utter- 
ances to his earliest visionary seizures, it is not 
too much to say that psychic coordination had dis- 
appeared, and that heredity had passed down those 
abnormal tendencies which mark the degenerate.^^ 
One is not obliged to believe that Joseph's * visions ' 
were due to epilepsy of a masked variety. Heredity, 
as understood by the alienist, ignores any definite 
type of disease, yet it makes much of mental 
stigmata. Chief among these are marked sen- 
suality, and exaggerated traits of vanity and self- 
conceit. In Smith's case there is abundant evi- 
dence of the former in his polygamous practices, 
but only the latter need here be instanced. The 
same visitor at Nauvoo, who had given a not un- 
favorable opinion of the prophet, speaks of him as 
a great egotist. * He touched as usual on his pe- 
culiar doctrines, . . . became much excited, 
talked incessantly about himself, what he had done 

*9 Compare Thomas Ribot, * The Diseases of Personality,' 1894. 



FINAL ACTIVITIES 329 

and could do more than other mortals, and remarked 
that he was ' a giant, physically and mentally/ 
This utterance was reported to have been made 
about a year before Smith's assassination, which oc- 
curred June 27th, 1844. 

But the prophet's own written words are the 
final test of his mental condition. The statement of 
April, 1844, would be incredible, were it not corrob- 
orated by the statement of November, 1843: — 

' I know more than all the world put together.' 

*f* 1* 1* •i* nS 

' I combat the error of ages ; I meet the violence of 
mobs ; I cope with illegal proceedings from executive au- 
thority ; I cut the Gordian knot of powers, and I solve 
mathematical problems of universities with truth, dia- 
mond truth, and God is my right-hand man,' 



APPENDIX I 
CONTENTS OF THE BOOK OF MORMON 



APPENDIX I 

CONTENTS OF THE BOOK OF MORMON 

'First Book of Nephi. Language of the record; 
Nephi's abridgment; Lehi's dream; Lehi departs into 
the wilderness; Nephi slayeth Laban; Sariah com- 
plains of Lehi's vision; contents of the brass plates; 
Ishmael goes with Nephi; Nephi's brethren rebel, 
and bind him; Lehi's dream of the tree, rod, etc.; 
Messiah and John prophesied of; olive branches 
broken off; Nephi's vision of Mary; of the cruci- 
fixion of Christ; of darkness and earthquake; great 
abominable church; discovery of the promised land; 
Bible spoken of; book of Mormon and holy ghost 
promised; other books come forth; Bible and book 
of Mormon one; promises to the Gentiles; two 
churches; the work of the Father to commence; a 
man in white robes (John); Nephites come to 
knowledge; rod of iron; the sons of Lehi take 
wives; director found (ball); Nephi breaks his bow; 
directors work by faith; Ishmael died; Lehi and 
Nephi threatened; Nephi commanded to build a 
ship; Nephi about to be worshipped by his breth- 

333 



334 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

ren; ship finished and entered; dancing in the ship; 
Nephi bound; ship driven back; arrived on the 
promised land; plates of ore made; Zenos, Neum, 
and Zenock; Isaiah's writing; holy one of Israel. 

* Second Book of Nephi. Lehi to his sons; oppo- 
sition in all things; Adam fell that man might be; 
Joseph saw our day; a choice seer; writings grow 
together; prophet promised to the Lamanites; 
Joseph's prophecy on brass plates; Lehi buried; 
Nephi's life sought; Nephi separated from Laman; 
temple built; skin of blackness; priests, etc., con- 
secrated; make other plates; Isaiah's words by 
Jacob; angels to a devil; spirits and bodies reunited; 
baptism; no kings upon this land; Isaiah prophes- 
ieth; rod of the stem of Jesse; seed of Joseph 
perisheth not; law of Moses kept; Christ shall shew 
himself; signs of Christ, birth and death; whisper 
from the dust; book sealed up; priestcraft for- 
bidden ; sealed book to be brought forth ; three wit- 
nesses behold the book; the words (read this, I 
pray thee); seal up the book again; their priests 
shall contend; teach with their learning, and deny 
the holy ghost; rob the poor; a bible, a bible; men 
judged of the books; white and a delightsome 
people; work commences among all people; lamb 
of God baptized; baptism by water and holy ghost. 

' Book of Jacob. Nephi anointeth a king; Nephi 
dies; Nephites and Lamanites; a righteous branch 



CONTENTS OF BOOK OF MORMON 335 

from Joseph; Lamanites shall scourge you; more 
than one wife forbidden; trees, waves, and moun- 
tains obey us; Jews look beyond the mark; tame 
olive-tree; nethermost part of the vineyard; fruit 
laid up against the season; another branch; wild 
fruit had overcome; lord of the vineyard weeps; 
branches overcome the roots; wild branches plucked 
off; Sherem, the anti-Christ; a sign, Sherem smit- 
ten; Enos takes the plates from his father. 

' The Book of Enos. Enos, thy sins are forgiven; 
records threatened by Lamanites; Lamanites eat 
raw meat. 

'The Book of Jarom. Nephites wax strong; 
Lamanites drink blood; fortify cities; plates de- 
livered to 0mm. 

'The Book of Omni. Plates given to Amaron; 
plates given to Chemish; Mosiah warned to flee; 
Zarahemla discovered ; engravings on a stone; Cori- 
antumr discovered; his parents come from the 
tower; plates delivered to King Benjamin. 

'The words of Mormon. False Christs and 
prophets. 

'Book of Mosiah. Mosiah made king; the plates 
of brass, sword, and director; King Benjamin 
teacheth the people; their tent doors toward the 
temple; coming of Christ foretold; beggars not 
denied; sons and daughters; Mosiah began to 
reign; Ammon, etc., bound and imprisoned; 



336 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Limhi's proclamation; twenty-four plates of gold; 
seer and translator. 

' Record of Zeniflf. A battle fought; King Laman 
died; Noah made king; Abinadi the prophet; res- 
urrection; Alma believed Abinadi; Abinadi cast 
into prison and scourged with fagots; waters of 
Mormon; the daughters of the Lamanites stolen by 
King Noah's priests; records on plates of ore; last 
tribute of wine; Lamanites' deep sleep; King Limhi 
baptized; priests and teachers labor; Alma saw an 
angel; Alma fell (dumb); King Mosiah's sons 
preach to the Lamanites; translation of records; 
plates delivered by Limhi; translated by two 
stones; people back to the Tower; records given 
to Alma; judges appointed; King Mosiah died; 
Alma died; Kings of Nephi ended. 

'The Book of Alma. Nehor slew Gideon; 
Amlici made king; Amlici slain in battle; Amlicites 
painted red; Alma baptized in Sidon; Alma's 
preaching; Alma ordained elders; commanded to 
meet often; Alma saw an angel; Amulek saw an 
angel; lawyers questioning Amulek; coins named; 
Zeesrom the lawyer; Zeesrom trembles; election 
spoken of; Melchizedek priesthood; Zeesrom 
stoned; records burned; prison rent; Zeesrom 
healed and baptized; Nehor's desolation; Lamanites 
converted; flocks scattered at Sebus; Ammon 
smote off arms; Ammon and King Lamoni; King 



CONTENTS OF BOOK OF MORMON 337 

Lamoni fell; Ammon and the queen; king and 
queen prostrate; Aaron, etc., delivered; Jerusalem 
built; preaching in Jerusalem; Lamoni's father con- 
verted; land desolation and bountiful; anti-Nephi- 
Lehies; general council; swords buried; 1,005 
massacred; Lamanites perish by fire; slavery for- 
bidden; anti-Nephi-Lehies removed to Jershon, 
called Ammonites; tremendous battle; anti-Christ, 
Korihor; Korihor struck dumb; the devil in the 
form of an angel; Korihor trodden down; Alma's 
mission to Zoramites; Rameumptom (holy stand); 
Alma on hillOnidah; Alma on faith; prophecy of 
Zenos; prophecy of Zenock; Amulek's knowledge 
of Christ; charity recommended; same spirit 
possess your body; believers cast out; Alma to 
Helaman; plates given to Helaman; twenty-four 
plates; Gazelem, a stone (secret); Liahona, or com- 
pass; Alma to Shiblon; Alma to Corianton; un- 
pardonable sin; resurrection; restoration; justice in 
punishment; if, Adam, took, tree, life; mercy rob 
justice; Moroni's stratagem; slaughter of Laman- 
ites; Moroni's speech to Zerahemnah; prophecy of 
a soldier; Lamanites' covenant of peace; Alma's 
prophecy 400 years after Christ; dwindle in unbe- 
lief; Alma's strange departure; Amalickiah leadeth 
away the people, destroyeth the church; standard 
of Moroni; Joseph's coat rent; Jacob's prophecy of 
Joseph's seed; fevers in the land, plants and roots 



338 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

for diseases; Amalickiah's plot; the king stabbed; 
Amalickiah marries the queen, and is acknowledged 
king; fortifications by Moroni; ditches filled with 
dead bodies; Amalickiah's oath; Pahoran appointed 
judge; army against king-men; Amalickiah slain; 
Ammoron made king; Bountiful fortified; dissen- 
sions; 2,000 young men; Moroni's epistle to Am- 
moron; Ammoron's answer; Lamanites made 
drunk; Moroni's stratagem; Helaman's epistle to 
Moroni; Helaman's stratagem; mothers taught 
faith; Lamanites surrendered; city of Antiparah 
taken; city of Cumeni taken; 200 of the 2,000 
fainted; prisoners rebel, slain; Manti taken by 
stratagem; Moroni to the governor; governor's an- 
swer; King Pachus slain; cords and ladders prepared; 
Nephihah taken; Teancum's stratagem, slain; peace 
established; Moronihah made commander; Hela- 
man died; sacred things, Shiblon; Moroni died; 
5,400 emigrated north; ships built by Hagoth; 
sacred things committed to Helaman; Shiblon died. 
'The Book of Helaman. Pahoran died; Pahoran 
appointed judge; Kishkumen slays Pahoran; Pacu- 
meni appointed judge; Zarahemla taken; Pacumeni 
killed; Coriantumr slain; Lamanites surrendered; 
Helaman appointed judge; secret signs discovered 
and Kishkumen stabbed; Gadianton fled; emigra- 
tion northward; cement houses; many books and 
records; Helaman died; Nephi made judge; Neph- 



CONTENTS OF BOOK OF MORMON 339 

ites become wicked; Nephi gave the judgment-seat 
toCezoram; Nephi and Lehi preached to the La- 
manites; 8,000 baptized; Alma and Nephi sur- 
rounded with fire; angels administer; Cezoram and 
son murdered; Gadianton robbers; Gadianton rob- 
bers destroyed; Nephi's prophecy; Gadianton rob- 
bers are judges; chief judge slain; Seantum de- 
tected; keys of the kingdom; Nephi taken away by 
the spirit; famine in the land; Gadianton band de- 
stroyed; famine removed; Samuel's prophecy; 
tools lost; two days and a night, light; sign of the 
crucifixion; Samuel stoned, etc.; angels appeared. 

* Third Book of Nephi. Lachoneus chief judge; 
Nephi receives the records ; Nephi's strange depart- 
ure; no darkness at night; Lamanites become 
white; Giddianhi to Lachoneus; Gidgiddoni chief 
judge; Giddianhi slain; Zemnarihah hanged; rob- 
bers surrendered; Mormon abridges the records; 
church begins to be broken up; government of the 
land destroyed; chief judge murdered: divided into 
tribes; Nephi raises the dead; sign of the crucifix- 
ion; cities destroyed, earthquakes, darkness, etc.; 
law of Moses fulfilled; Christ appears to Nephites; 
print of the nails; Nephi and others called; baptism 
commanded; doctrine of Christ; Christ the end of 
the law; other sheep spoken of; blessed are the 
Gentiles; Gentile wickedness on the land of Joseph; 
Isaiah's words fulfilled; Jesus heals the sick; Christ 



340 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

blesses children; little ones encircled with fire; 
Christ administers the sacrament; Christ teaches his 
disciples; names of the twelve; the twelve teach 
the multitude; baptism, holy ghost, and fire; dis- 
ciples made white; faith great; Christ breaks bread 
again; miracle, bread and wine; Gentiles destroyed 
(Isaiah); Zion established; from Gentiles, to your 
seed; sign. Father's work commenced; he shall be 
marred; Gentiles destroyed (Isaiah); New Jeru- 
salem built; work commence among all the tribes; 
Isaiah's words; saints did arise; Malachi's proph- 
ecy; faith tried by the Booh of Mormon; chil- 
dren's tongues loosed; the dead raised; baptism 
and holy ghost; all things common; Christ appears 
again; Moses, church; three Nephites tarry; the 
twelve caught up; change upon their bodies. 

* Book of Nephi, son of Nephi. Disciples raise 
the dead; Zarahemla rebuilt; other disciples are 
ordained in their stead; Nephi dies; Amos keeps 
the records in his stead; Amos dies, and his son 
Amos keeps the records; prisons rent by the three; 
secret combinations; Ammaron hides the records. 

' Book of Mormon. Three disciples taken away; 
Mormon forbidden to preach; Mormon appointed 
leader; Samuel's prophecy fulfilled; Mormon makes 
a record; lands divided; the twelve shall judge; 
desolation taken; women and children sacrificed; 
Mormon takes the records hidden in Shim; Mor- 



CONTENTS OF BOOK OF MORMON 341 

mon repents of his oath and takes command; com- 
ing forth of records; records hid in Cumorah; 
230,000 Nephites slain; shall not get gain by the 
plates; these things shall come forth out of the 
earth; the state of the world; miracles cease, unbe- 
lief; disciples go into all the world and preach; 
language of the book. 

' Book of Ether. Twenty-four plates found ; 
Jared cries unto the Lord; Jared goes down to the 
valley of Nimrod; Deseret, honey-bee; barges 
built; decree of God, choice land; free from bond- 
age; four years in tents at Moriancumer; Lord 
talks three hours ; barges like a dish; eight vessels, 
sixteen stones; Lord touches the stones; finger of 
the Lord seen; Jared's brother sees the Lord; two 
stones given; stones sealed up; goes aboard of 
vessels; furious wind blows; 344 days* passage; 
Orihah anointed king; King Shule taken captive; 
Shule's sons slay Noah; Jared carries his father 
away captive; the daughters of Jared dance; Jared 
anointed king by the hand of wickedness; Jared 
murdered and Akish reigns in his stead; names of 
animals; poisonous serpents; Riplakish's cruel 
reign; Morianton anointed king; poisonous serp- 
ents destroyed; many wicked kings; Moroni on 
faith; miracles by faith; Moroni sees Jesus; New 
Jerusalem spoken of; Ether cast out; records fin- 
ished in the cavity of a rock; secret combinations; 



342 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

war in all the land ; King Gilead murdered by his 
high priest; the high priest murdered by Lib; Lib 
slain by Coriantumr; dead bodies cover the land 
and none to bury them; 2,000,000 men slain; hill 
Ramah; cries rend the air; sleep on their swords; 
Coriantumr slays Shiz; Shiz falls to the earth; 
records hidden by Ether. 

* Book of Moroni. Christ's words to the twelve; 
manner of ordination; order of sacrament; order of 
baptism; faith, hope and charity; baptism of little 
children; women fed on their husbands' flesh; 
daughters murdered and eaten; sufferings of 
women and children; cannot recommend them to 
God; Moroni to the Lamanites; 420 years since the 
sign; records sealed up (Moroni); gifts of the 
spirits; God's word shall hiss forth/ 



APPENDIX II 
EPILEPSY AND THE VISIONS 



APPENDIX II 

EPILEPSY AND THE VISIONS^ 

The diagnosis of an apparent epilepsy in Smith's 
visionary seizures is difficult for three reasons: — 
first, the descriptions come from incompetent ob- 
servers; second, the paroxysms present great divers- 
ity of form; third, there is an absence of definite 
pathological stigmata. There are no photographs 
extant from v^hich cranial malformations might be 
observed; yet all the portraits of Smith show an 
inferior cranial angle, and an overdeveloped cereb- 
ellum. 

But the prognosis is assured from the antecedents 
of the patient. The case is not idiopathic; there 
are known causes furnishing an almost complete 
etiology. Foremost is heredity. Joseph's maternal 

J References, * Archiv fiir Psychiatric,' 8, 200 seq ; Charcot, 
Bouchard et Brissaud, * Traite de Medecine,' Paris, 1894, — Dutil 
'Epilepsia'; Hughlings- Jackson, in Brain 11, 179, ff. ; Kraft- 
Ebing, * Lehrbuch de Psychiatric,' Stuttgart, 1897 — * ^^^ Epilep- 
tesche Irre in ' ; E. D. Starbuck, « The Psychology of Religion,' 
New York, 1899 ; H. von Zicmscn, * Cyclopaedia of the Practice of 
Medicine,' New York, 1877, Volume XIV, — Prof. H, Northnagel, 
« Epilepsy.' 

345 



346 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

grandfather had 'fits.' The hallucinations of Solo- 
mon Mack at the age of seventy-six, have been 
already traced to temporary causes, such as rheu- 
matism. Of Solomon's many ailments and acci- 
dents, three have especial bearing on the problem. 
Some time before 1757, at about the age of twenty- 
two, he writes, ' I had a terrible fever sore on my 
leg, which had well-nigh proved fatal to my life." 
This is to be noticed only because Joseph had a 
similar trouble, at a somewhat earlier age. Again 
Solomon relates that while visiting his son, who 
was cutting trees, * A tree fell on me and crushed 
me almost all to pieces, beat the breath out of my 
body, my son took me up for dead, I however soon 
recovered, but have not to this day recovered the 
use of my limbs, which was thirty-four years ago. 
. . . I lay sixty days on my back and never 
moved or turned to one side or the other, the 
skin was worn off my backbone one end to the 
other.*' This story is corroborated by the account 
of an eyewitness at Royalton, Vermont, who por- 
trayed Solomon Mack as * an infirm old man, who 
used to ride around on horseback, on a side-sad- 
dle/* 

These two episodes are perhaps immaterial, 
but the third is not. Solomon again says, * Soon 

"Narrative/ p. 5. 3 « Narrative,^ p. 10. 

^ Historical Magazine f November, 1870. 



EPILEPSY AND THE VISIONS 347 

after this I was wounded by a limb falling from a 
tree upon my head, which again nearly deprived me 
of life. I afterwards was taken with a fit/* The 
date of this affliction is extremely significant. It 
happened about a year before the birth of Lucy 
Mack, Solomon's last child and the mother of the 
prophet.^ This fit, attributable to traumatic lesion, is 
thus described by the patient himself: — ' I afterwards 
was taken with a fit, when traveling, with an axe 
under my arm, on Winchester hills, the face of the 
land was covered with ice. I was senseless from 
one, until five p. m. When I came to myself I had 
my axe still under my arm. I was all covered with 
blood and much cut and bruised. When I came to 
my senses I could not tell where I had been nor 
where I was going . . • was under the doc- 
tor's care all the winter.'^ Alcoholism, as a pro- 
vocative of epilepsy, cannot be causally connected 
with these seizures. Solomon had been an army 
sutler for twenty-seven years,® but his acknowl- 
edged drunkenness came only after the Tunbridge 
episode. As a sailor on the Atlantic, he confesses 
to a chronic intoxication and adds, 'the devil had 
got hold on me and I served him well.'^ 

»* Narrative,' p. I2. 

«The date of the * Narrative' is not later than 1810; Lucy was 
born in 1776. 

"Narrative,* p. 12. 
8 « Narrative,' Errata, 
8 * Narrative,' p. 15. 



348 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Of the other branch of this first generation much 
less is known. Joseph's paternal grandfather, Asael 
Smith, nicknamed * crook-necked ' Smith, at the 
age of eighty-six, is spoken of as 'just recover- 
ing from a severe fit' and of ' weak mind/^® There 
is nothing more to be made of this than mental fail- 
ure due to senility. 

Returning to the more significant maternal line, 
Joseph's grandmother Lydia Gates Mack, at the age 
of forty-seven, had *a severe fit of sickness. She 
was so low that she, as well as her friends, entirely 
despaired of her recovery.' ^^ She was however 
alive in 1815, aged eighty. Proceeding to the sec- 
ond generation, of Joseph's father, only two slight 
illnesses are recorded," one of them was, curiously 
enough, at the time of Joseph's first real seizure. 
But to leave the ascendants, it is noticeable that the 
collaterals on the male side were uniformly healthy. 
Of Joseph's uncles, Jason, Daniel and Solomon (2d) 
nothing is said; Stephen is described as robust, and 
as being ill but four days before his death. It is 
different with the female side. Of Lydia, no patho- 
logical details are given, but Lovisa, despite her 
' miraculous recovery ' died of consumption within 

10 « Biographical Sketches,* pp. 154, 155. 
" * Biographical Sketches,* p. 36. 

*2 The alleged intoxication of Joseph, senior, was charged by his 
enemies only after the removal to New York State. 



EPILEPSY AND THE VISIONS 349 

two years, and Lovina succumbed to the same dis- 
ease after lingering three years/' 

As to the mother of the prophet, her hallucina- 
tions have already been described; the coincident 
sickness is like that of her sisters. At the age of 
twenty-six, after the birth of Alvin and Hyrum, 
Lucy 'took a heavy cold, which caused a severe 
cough. ... A hectic fever set in, which threat- 
ened to prove fatal, ^nd the physician pronounced 
my case to be confirmed consumption.' Of the 
course of recovery there is no information, but, 
in middle life, judging from her ability for hard 
work, Lucy appears to have been in good health. 
But immediately before the birth of Joseph, in 1805, 
his mother was in indigence, if not positive want.^* 
It was, however, not until 181 1, that Joseph, senior's 
mind * became much excited upon the subject of 
religion ' ; his seven visions then followed at the rate 
of one a year. His death, at seventy, was said to 
be due to the ' eruption of a blood vessel.' '^ 



J3 « Biographical Sketches,* Chapter 3. 

^4 * Biographical Sketches,* p. 56. In Sharon, Windsor County, 
Vermont, she says, * my husband rented a farm of my father, which 
he cultivated in the summer, teaching school in the winter. In 
this way my husband continued laboring for a few years, during 
which time our circumstance gradually improved, until we found 
ourselves quite comfortable again. In the meantime we had a son 
whom we called Joseph.* 

^5* Times and Seasons,* 5, 173. 



350 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Before further examination of Joseph's neuro- 
pathic antecedents, and in order to complete the 
tale of the generations, a word may be said concern- 
ing his progeny. From sources which cannot here 
be divulged, comes the significant fact that * fits ' 
have reappeared, not in the fourth,^^ but in the fifth 
generation. The atavism in the prophet's case is 
clear: he stands midway in the series. As to the 
causes productive of the epileptic tendency, hered- 
ity has its acknowledged primacy. If one so 
pleases, heredity may here be taken in its broader 
sense of mere 'nervousness' in the ancestors. In 
many cases, it is asserted, the parents need not be 
directly responsible, for a neuropathic tendency in 
the family generally suffices. But this case is more 
pronounced; the grandsire's first *fit' took place 
about the age of forty-one, the first * vision ' of the 
grandson about fourteen. This fulfils the condition 
that, * if epilepsy is hereditary the descendants are 
attacked at an earlier age than the ascendants.' 

Besides an inherited nervous diathesis, diseases 
furnished foredisposing causes. More is made of 
Joseph's individual vicissitudes than of all his nine 
brothers and sisters put together." In 1811 all 

»8 Joseph Smith, junior's first child, by Emma Hale, died 
shortly after birth. Compare 'Biographical Sketches,* p. Ii8. 
That perjured apostate * Dr.* Bennett, eight years the prophet's 
body physician, claims that it was a monster. 

*7 Of these the following are noticed ; Alvin, the first child, at 



EPILEPSY AND THE VISIONS 351 

the children had ' typhus ' [typhoid ?] in Lebanon, 
N. H. Within a month of recovery, at the age 
of six, Joseph developed a 'fever sore,' first on 
the breast, then on the leg; the latter sore being 
similar to that of his grandfather Mack's. A portion 
of the * bone of the leg ' was removed by surgeons, 
without the use of anaesthetics. At the age of ten, 
Joseph was still lame; in the forties he escaped reg- 
ular military duty by pleading lameness as a disa- 
bility. 

If a nervous diathesis, an infectious fever, and an 
ulceration, may be considered likely predisposing 
causes, the exciting causes of the seizures are 
equally marked. Nervous instability, consequent 
on protracted religious excitement, at the time of 
puberty, has been elsewhere treated,^® but the imme- 
diate exciting cause of the boy's first seizure may be 
laid to fright. ' At the age of fourteen ... a 
gun was fired across his pathway ... he sprang 
to the door much frightened.' ^^ 

twenty-five was < murdered * by a doctor, through an overdose of 
calomel ; Sophronia recovers of typhus, on the ninetieth day * through 
prayer * ; Samuel died at thirty-two from * fever due to overexertion 
in escaping a mob ' ; Ephraim lived but eleven days after his birth ; 
Don Carlos died at twenty-five of consumption. « Biographical 
Sketches,* Chapter xx, etc. 

>8 Above Chapter II. The * protracted meetings * in Western 
New York revivals took from eight to thirty days, often from sun- 
rise to 9 P. M. Hotchkin, p. 165. 

19 1 Biographical Sketches,* p. 73. 



352 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Now the first vision may be explained as a 
migraine, but the recurrence of this psychic aura, in 
a more or less stereotyped form, along with other- 
wise inexplicable injuries and contusions, is to be 
laid to a real epilepsy. Here alcoholism was first in 
the list of provocative causes. Joseph's confession 
as to the ' weakness of youth, foolish errors, divers 
temptations and gratifications of appetites offensive 
in the sight of God,' — is to be coupled with the con- 
fessions of his adherents that he sometimes drank 
too much liquor. The frequency of his intoxication 
cannot be determined; along with Joseph, senior, he 
was charged by his enemies with public drunken- 
ness; the Mormons themselves acknowledge at least 
two of the counts. There is no truth whatever in 
the statement that both parents drank; the neuro- 
pathic condition of the mother was transmitted. That 
alcoholism did but little to debilitate Joseph is proved 
by his general good health after thirty. It was, how- 
ever, a provocative agent of his second attack at 
eighteen, for only the slightest stimulation was neces- 
sary to bring about a repetition of the first attack. 

The two earliest seizures may be now examined in 
conjunction. As already suggested, the theophanic 
portion of the visions may be largely explained as 
an ophthalmic migraine. Whether this is to be as- 
sociated with a partial sensorial epilepsy, is deter- 
minable, in one case, by what precedes, in the 



EPILEPSY AND THE VISIONS 353 

other by what follows. Collecting the terms there 
are the following expressions: *a pillar of light 
exactly over my head, above the brightness of 
the sun, which descended gradually until it fell 
upon me/ In the second vision the details are 
fuller and more exact: 'On a sudden, a light 
like that of day, only of a far purer and more glorious 
appearance and brightness burst into the room; in- 
deed the first sight was as though the house was 
filled with a consuming fire. ... I saw the 
light in the room begin to gather immediately around 
the person of him who had been speaking to me, 
and it continued to do so, until the room was again 
left dark, except just around him, when instantly I 
saw, as it were, a conduit open right up into heaven, 
and he ascended up till he entirely disappeared, 
and the room was left as it had been before this 
heavenly light had made its appearance.' This mani- 
festation was repeated twice that night, once on the 
following day, and also throughout the series. As 
usual the apparent objective manifestations were 
actually subjective symptoms. Their similarity is 
due to the fact that in ophthalmic migraine periodical 
attacks tend to be similar in the same patient. The 
visual disturbance is ushered in by a dimness or 
blindness, then a scintillating scotoma occupies the 
outer portions of the visual field. Patients expe- 
riencing this symptom for the first time cannot give 



354 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

an exact account of it, more than that it is a dazzling 
comparable to that observed in looking at the sun. 
But with repetition there comes a more accurate en- 
visagement, as in the second vision of Joseph. * The 
luminous ball of fire enlarges; its centre becomes 
obscure; gradually it passes beyond the limits of the 
visual field above and below, and the patient sees 
only a portion of it, in the form of a broken lumi- 
nous line, which continues to vibrate until it has en- 
tirely disappeared. Then follows a phase of ex- 
haustion and sometimes somnolence.' 

These sequelae appear in the second vision, but to 
turn to the prodromata of the first. Joseph says 
that in this time of great excitement his mind was 
in a state of 'great uneasiness,' his feelings 'deep 
and pungent,* and he 'kept himself aloof.' These 
are the remote premonitory symptoms of an attack, 
when the patient labors under a singular oppression 
two or three days beforehand and is irritable, sad and 
secretive. The real seizure does not follow, unless 
there are immediate premonitory symptoms. These 
are not lacking in Joseph's case ; the ' thick darkness ' 
may be explained as a migrainous scotoma, but 
fuller explanation is needed of Joseph's additional 
statements: *I was seized upon by some power as 
to bind my tongue; I was ready to sink into despair, 
until I found myself delivered from the enemy; I 
saw two personages, whose brightness and glory 



EPILEPSY AND THE VISIONS 355 

defy all description, one of whom spake unto me/ 
Taken in order and with proper terminology these 
phenomena appear to constitute the real epileptic 
aura. After the gradually increasing melancholic 
depression, the patient manifests: first, a sudden 
terror; second, violent palpitations of the heart, ac- 
companied by a difficulty in breathing and a con- 
striction of the larynx; third, along with these 
symptoms are complex visual and auditory halluci- 
nations of corporeal figures, such as of fantastic per- 
sonages who carry on a conversation or deliver a 
message. More marked, psychic, sensitive and sens- 
ory prodromata are manifest in the second vision. 
Whether this first psychic paroxysm was followed 
by a real seizure, is undeterminable. It is not, at 
any rate, the classic major attack. There is loss of 
consciousness — ' when I came to myself — but noth- 
ing from which general convulsions can be inferred. 
Nevertheless the sensorial migraine is an equivalent 
for convulsive paroxysms. Again, in the major at- 
tacks, there is often lacking the initial cry, tongue 
biting, and evacuations. The character of Joseph's 
seizures, whether they are the mild type, the transi- 
tional form, or merely epileptoid, is to be gathered 
only from the whole series, for in individual cases, 
manifold diversities are found, even in the features 
of the full epileptic attack. 
Turning to the second seizure, it represents the 



3S6 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 



more essential features of mental and motor dis- 
turbance, — a verbal deafness and feebleness of the 
limbs, followed by exhaustion and somnolence. 
The vision proper took place the night before the 
real seizure. As there was no apparent loss of con- 
sciousness, it may be considered merely as the im- 
mediate premonition. Moreover, this vision, like 
the first, v^as preceded by anxiety and disquietude 
— *I often felt condemned for my weakness and 
imperfections.' As an immediate prodroma, it is 
marked by more exact details. The parallel account 
gives these extra data. The celestial messenger's ap- 
pearance was like *fire,' and 'produced a shock 
which affected the whole body.' These may be 
explained as the sensory aura of red color (rothen 
flammenschein) and the sensitive aura of numbness 
(engourdissement). 

It is now in order to examine alternative expla- 
nations. Joseph's second vision is not to be ex- 
plained as a vertigo, in which either the patient 
feels himself turning, or external objects seem to 
move to one side. This night vision resembles a 
particular variety of epilepsy denominated * intel- 
lectual aura.' It begins with color projections, fol- 
lowed by 'seeing faces'; the auditory sensation- 
warnings being, in turn, succeeded by ' hearing 
voices ' (Hughlings-Jackson). There is not always 
loss of consciousness but a state of semi-conscious- 



EPILEPSY AND THE VISIONS 357 

ness with reminiscent dreams. (Compare: — 'I lay 
musing on the singularity of the scene, when I dis- 
covered the same heavenly messenger again/) The 
manifestation occurred thrice that night. Such 
hyperideation was a precursory sign of the real sei- 
zure which occurred on the following day. The 
lad's mother says, 'Joseph stopped quite suddenly; 
seemed to be in a very deep study.' Being hurried 
by his brother he * went to work again and after 
laboring a short time, he stopped just as he had 
done before. This being quite unusual and strange, 
his father discovered that Joseph was very pale.' 

Thus far the case appears to be one of those at- 
tenuated epileptic attacks, designated vacuity, 
which is limited to a loss of consciousness with 
temporary pallor, but the patient does not fall or 
utter a cry. ' Immovable, with his eyes fixed, and a 
strange air, he remains as if unconscious, seeing 
nothing, hearing nothing, in a sort of ecstasy. Per- 
haps he executes certain automatic movements. It 
all lasts only several seconds. The patient shortly 
returns to himself, takes up the conversation at the 
point where he had left off or returns to his work* 
(Dutil). Joseph's version of this episode is as fol- 
lows: Arising * shortly after' the night vision, he 
found his ' strength so exhausted ' as rendered him 
'entirely unable' to work; his father told him to go 
home, but in attempting to cross the fence his 



358 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 



I 



'strength entirely failed'; he 'fell helpless on the 
ground, and for a time was quite unconscious of 
anything.* The previous night's hallucination of 
the messenger and the message is then repeated. 
This reproduction of the seizure under the apple- 
tree was followed by restlessness and exhaustion. 
Joseph says, * I left the field and went to the place 
where the messenger had told me the plates were 
deposited.' His mother adds, 'The ensuing even- 
ing Joseph made known what passed between him 
and the angel while he was at the place where the 
plates were deposited. Sitting up late that evening, 
together with overexertion of mind had much fa- 
tigued Joseph.' Thus the after effects of the attack 
of September 24th, 1823, took the usual form of 
nervous exhaustion, a veritable nervous discharge 
leaving behind a state of collapse corresponding to 
the intensity of this discharge. In fact these are 
the prominent sequelae of all the fully recorded 
visions. After the fifth, he was ' much exhausted 
and very tired'; after the sixth, 'he returned to 
the house, weeping for grief and disappointment;' 
after the seventh, he was 'altogether speechless 
from fright and the fatigue of running,' and 'threw 
himself upon the bed.' j 

In the same manner the state of coma in the series 
is uniform in occurrence, though varying in degree. 
In the first, it was expressed by the words — ' when 



EPILEPSY AND THE VISIONS 359 

I came to myself; in the second, — M was quite un- 
conscious of anything'; in the third, he 'was over- 
come by the powers of darkness and when he re- 
covered, the angel was gone'; in the sixth, *he did 
not get home till the night was far spent'; in the 
seventh, * he dislocated his thumb, which, however, 
he did not notice until he came within sight of the 
house.' 

Loss of consciousness, as a chief criterion of 
epilepsy, has been here emphasized. Yet the 
classic convulsive symptoms are by no means 
lacking, hence it is largely from their effects and 
after marks that they are to be inferred. There 
must, however, be taken into account the lack of 
clinical data, for, with the exception of the episode 
in the field which 'attracted the attention of his 
father,' the seizures took place away from observ- 
ers. Now if the fact that the most elaborate of the 
hallucinations was nocturnal excites suspicion of 
epilepsy, the fact that most of the attacks were am- 
bulatory attacks, away from home, furnishes cumu- 
lative evidence of true epileptic convulsions. 

To anticipate the answer to an important question : 
Were any of these true major attacks ? The second 
main seizure and the immediate falling 'helpless to 
the ground ' bespeak a spasmodic innervation of the 
limbs. Furthermore the dislocation of the boy's 
thumb in the last attack points to that common 



36o THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

epileptic symptom of the thumb being forcibly 
flexed into the hand. If there were any instances 
of grand mal, the tonic and clonic spasms cannot 
be distinguished. The former, as sometimes oc- 
curs, are here wanting, unless such be the disloc- 
ation of the thumb. But the more rapid and violent 
convulsions, with consequent wounds and excoria- 
tions of the skin, are to be gathered from collateral 
information. The form of the hallucination varies, 
but these accounts agree as to the after affects. 
One reads, *When Joseph got the plates, on his 
way home, he was met by what appeared to be a 
man, who struck him with a club on his side, 
which was all black and blue.'^^ The other states, 
'As he returned and was getting over the fence, 
one of the devils struck him a blow on his side, 
where a black and blue spot remained three or four 
days.'^^ These ecchymoses are symptomatic of 
rather severe convulsions. The variety in the terms 
of explanation — * devils struck, angels chastised, 
assassins assaulted' him — as in the case of his 
grandfather, shows the inability of the patient to 
explain his self-inflicted injuries. Again in the 
grand mal the prodromata are lacking in half the 
cases, as here, but unconsciousness outlasts the 

20 Tiffany* s Monthly, May, 1859. Interview with Martin Harris. 

21 Historical Magazine, May, 1 870, p. 305. Fayette Lapham in 
an interview with Joseph Smith, senior, in 1830. 



EPILEPSY AND THE VISIONS 361 

spasm. Joseph on the other hand appears to have 
been conscious of a series of 'shocks* over the 
v^hole body. In the third seizure, according to his 
mother, 'he was hurled back on the ground with 
great violence'; again, according to a reported 
statement of his father, 'he felt something strike 
him on the breast, which was repeated a third time, 
always with increased force, the last such as to lay 
him on his back.' 

The evidence in Joseph's case is now in. It re- 
mains, if possible, to locate it among the various 
forms of epilepsy: — i. grand mal ; 2. petit mat; 
3. transitional; 4. irregular; 5. epileptoid and epi- 
leptiform (Northnagel). The classic form of the 
epileptic attack is not immutable, yet it would be 
pressing the argument from silence, to identify the 
omissions in the text, with the occasional omissions 
in the grand attack. There is the lack, not only of 
those symptoms already mentioned, but also of the 
cry, which is more often absent than present; and 
in particular of consciousness, which is rarely com- 
pletely retained. Joseph's case is not in the first 
category, grand maty for 'the major convulsive at- 
tack, with loss of consciousness, presents this con- 
stant characteristic, — that it leaves no trace in the 
memory of the patient.' This amnesia varies in 
duration. ' Many patients remember the remote 
premonitory phenomena and even the sensations of 



362 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

the aura. Some retain the memory of the first con- 
vulsive movements* (Fere). At the same time, it 
should be allov^ed that the epileptic attack does not 
always occur in the same manner; in the same pa- 
tient it may vary infinitely in aspect, intensity and 
duration; moreover incomplete attacks may alter- 
nate with grand attacks. For all that, there is no 
single experience of Joseph's which completely ful- 
fils the classic formula: — premonitory symptoms 
remote and immediate, with both mental and motor 
disturbances; the attack proper, with its two pe- 
riods of tonic and clonic convulsions; the after- 
stage of gradual return to consciousness, with ab- 
normally deep sleep ; and the sequete — of wounds, 
bruises, excoriations. 

If Joseph's case is not grand mal, it is also not 
petit mat. He had in the first half of the series 
premonitions, and in the last half spasms. Again, 
to anticipate, the depth of his exhaustion and of his 
unnerved and bruised state militate against the pen- 
ultimate class, — the so-called irregular forms, in 
which the epileptic delirium is mild; and in greater 
degree against the last class, — the epileptoid and 
epileptiform seizures. These are slight and incom- 
plete and do not comprise violent acts of ambulatory 
automatism in which the patient senselessly wounds 
himself. Possibly Joseph's last recorded seizure, 
with the long flight from home, may be one of 



EPILEPSY AND THE VISIONS 363 

those irregular forms, in which convulsions are re- 
placed by running. 

On the whole, out of the five given varieties, the 
third, from its inclusive character, best describes 
Joseph's case. Of course different forms of attack 
occur jointly, and, like the undefined visions of 1825 
and 1826, mental disturbances may arise in place of 
the whole attack. But if any exactness of defini- 
tion is required, Northnagel's transitional form of 
epilepsy fairly includes the variant forms of 
Joseph's seizures. In general, in the transition- 
forms, there is loss of consciousness with local 
spasms. Unlike the rarer /)^/// wa/ this may occur 
without any visible outward spasms. The above 
mentioned variety in Joseph's terms of explanation — 
he was 'struck, chastised, assaulted' — is in accord 
with the transitional type of spasmodic phenomena, 
for the locality, intensity and nature of these are 
subject to the greatest variation. As to further 
permutations, it happens but seldom that tonic and 
clonic spasms appear together, or in succession, as 
in the major attacks; as a rule there is in this form 
only one or the other kind. Thus it may happen 
that certain fingers are rigidly bent or stretched — as 
Joseph's dislocation of thumb in the last seizure, — 
or a slight tremor runs over the whole body — as 
Joseph's 'a shock that affected the whole body.' 
This latter detail, for fear of mutiplying the number 



364 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

of real seizures, has been already considered a mere 
premonitory symptom. Further discussion of the 
transitional attack proper is unnecessary, for, as has 
been said, ' it is quite unprofitable to undertake to 
enumerate here all the possible multifarious varieties 
of the picture; the reality surpasses any descrip- 
tion/ 

As to the immediate consequences of the epilep- 
tic attack, besides the nervous collapse already 
indicated, there is to be incidentally noted the slight 
aphasia after the longest ambulatory seizure — 
* Joseph made no answ^er/ The more marked 
psychic after effects have been described in the 
text. 

In connection w^ith the psychiatric criteria, such 
as the hallucination of persecution, Joseph's inter- 
paroxysmal condition should be studied. The only 
pertinent statement is, that, previous to the seizure 
of January, 1827, w^hich took place within a week 
or so of his marriage, Joseph was ' in good health 
and fine spirits.' Now this is not opposed to the 
general constitutional relations, ' as the constitution 
may be perfectly normal, so in the case of certain 
epileptics may all pathological appearances on the 
part of the nervous system be absent; /. ^., many 
epileptics appear to be ailing only at the time of the 
paroxysms, exhibiting in the intervals the ap- 
pearance of thoroughly and completely healthy per- 



EPILEPSY AND THE VISIONS 365 

sons* (Northnagel). As to the remoter conse- 
quences again but one definite fact is obtainable. 
About six months after the last recorded seizure, 
Joseph was ' nearly worn out, of gloomy appearance, 
constitution evidently not strong, and he would fall 
asleep as he was walking along/" Joseph's 
mother attributes this exhaustion to his grief over 
the loss of his first child, and anxiety as to the 
stolen portion of the Booh of Mormon.''^ Did this 
bring on other attacks ? Within two months the 
' angel visited Joseph ' ; this was soon after followed 
by a ' revelation.' Again on September 22^ 1828, just 
a year after the last fully recorded vision, he received 
a message that * the servants of Satan have sought 
to destroy you.' Whether these visitations are to 
be identified with epileptic seizures is immaterial;^* 
the point here is that, as regards mental manifesta- 
tions, ' it is undoubtedly possible for an absolutely 
healthy state of mind to coexist with epilepsy.' 
Historical tradition tells of numerous highly gifted 

22' Biographical Sketches/ pp. 119-20. 

23 « Biographical Sketches,' p. 118. In July, 1828, Joseph had a 
« revelation concerning certain manuscripts taken from the posses- 
sions of Martin Harris ' (** Book of Commandments," chapter 3) but 
this * revelation ' was < soon after the angel visited him.' * Bio- 
graphical Sketches,' p. 125. 

2-i » Book of Commandments,' Chapter 4, following. Further 
revelations followed on February, March and April, 1829, but the 
series beginning then concerns business affairs and are not 
theophanic visions. 



366 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

men who suffer from epilepsy, and whose deeds do 
not allow the recognition of any mental deteriora- 
tion. 

Finally, as to Joseph's relief from these seizures : 
there seems to have been a spontaneous cure in 
his twenty-third year. This recovery was facili- 
tated positively by the infrequency of his attacks, 
negatively by the fact that the seizures were 
of the non-vertiginous variety. Whether these 
youthful experiences seriously affected his mind is 
to be determined only from a view of his whole 
public life, from the time he was tarred and 
feathered by a mob to his last days of colossal 
egotism. The prophet's mental soundness is a 
question for the alienist to decide. Nevertheless 
parsimony demands a cautious judgment, for in 
decided reaction against the opinion formerly main- 
tained, it has been proved by statistics, that aliena- 
tion occurs only if the epileptic seizures follow in 
unusually rapid succession. 



APPENDIX III 

THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY OF THE 
'BOOK OF MORMON' 



APPENDIX III 

THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY OF THE 'BOOK OF 
MORMON ' ' 

The ordinary anti-Mormon theory of the origin of 
the Book of Mormon was first formally presented by 
Howe in 1834. It was, in brief, that a romance of 
prehistoric America, written in Ohio in 1812 by a 
Congregational minister, was the * source, root and 
inspiration ' by which Smith and his associate, 
Sidney Rigdon, wrote the Book of Mormon. The 
title of Howe's book is explanatory: ' Mormonism 
Unveiled,' or, a faithful account of that singular 
imposition and delusion, from its rise to the present 
time. With sketches of the characters of the 
propagators, and a full detail of the manner in 

1 References : — K. H. Bancroft, * History of Utah,' 1890; < Hand- 
book of Reference,' 1884; E. D. Howe, * Mormonism Unveiled,' 
1834; J. H. Kennedy, 'Early Days of Mormonism,' 1888; * The 
Manuscript Found ' . . . From a Verbatim Copy of the 
Original . . . including correspondence,' 1885; R. Patterson, 
» Who Wrote the Book of Mormon ? ' 1882 ; A. T. Schroeder, * The 
Origin of the Book of Mormon,' 1901 ; * Times and Seasons,' 
4, i79fF.; B. Winchester, « The Origin of the Spaulding Story,' 
1840. 

369 



370 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

which the famous Golden Bible was brought before 
the world. To which are added, inquiries into the 
probability that the historical part of the said Bible 
was written by one Solomon Spaulding, more than 
twenty years ago, and by him intended to have been 
published as a romance.' 

According to the account of his widow/ Solomon 
Spaulding was born in Connecticut in 1761, and was 
graduated from Dartmouth College in 1785. Becom- 
ing a Congregational minister, in 1809 he removed 
to New Salem, now Conneaut, Ohio. Being of a 
lively imagination and with a great fondness for 
history, he became interested in the numerous 
mounds and forts of Ohio, supposed to be the 
works of an extinct race. To beguile his invalidism 
he took three years in writing a historical sketch of 
this long lost race. Their extreme antiquity led 
him to write in the most ancient style, his sole ob- 
ject being to amuse himself and his neighbors. The 
book claimed to have been written by one of the 
lost nation, and to have been recovered from the 
earth. It assumed the title of the 'Manuscript 
Found.' Its date was 181 2, about the time of Hull's 
surrender of Detroit. In that year Mr. Spaulding 
removed to Pittsburg and offered the manuscript to 
the printer Patterson, in whose office it was copied 
by an employee, Sidney Rigdon. At length the 

9 Boston Recorder f May, 1839. 



THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 371 

manuscript was returned to its author. ... In 
1834, at New Salem, Ohio, a Mormon preacher read 
copious extracts from the Book of Mormon. The 
historical part was recognized by the older inhabi- 
tants as the identical work of Mr. Spaulding. . . . 
' Thus an historical romance, with the addition of a 
few pious expressions and extracts from the sacred 
scripture, has been construed into a new Bible.' 

Of the ultimate fate of this manuscript, nothing is 
said by Spaulding's widow, but Howe claimed to 
have found, among Spaulding's literary remains, — * a 
single manuscript book, containing about one quire 
of paper. It was a romance purporting to have 
been translated' from the Latin, found in twenty- 
four rolls of parchment in a cave, on the banks of 
Conneaut Creek, but written in modern style, and 
giving a fabulous account of a ship being driven 
upon the American coast, while proceeding from 
Rome to Britain, a short time previous to the 
Christian era; this country being then inhabited by 
Indians. This old manuscript has been shown to 
several of the foregoing witnesses, who recognize 
it as Spaulding's, he having told them that he had 
altered his first plan of writing by going further 
back with dates, and writing in the old scripture 
style in order that it might appear more ancient. 
They say that it bears no resemblance to the 
' Manuscript Found.' 



372 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

It should here be noted that, as early as 1834, 
there appear to enter into the problem two dis- 
tinct Spaulding manuscripts, — one primary, which 
may be called the ' Latin version ' (L), the other 
subsequent and secondary, the ' Hebraic version ' 
(H). These, and possibly other manuscripts, are 
also referred to in the testimonies of the ' older 
inhabitants,' which Howe cites, and which will be 
scrutinized later. Howe's book, with its double 
form of the Spaulding theory, was of course criti- 
cised in the Mormon Church organ/ It was an- 
swered at length, in 1840, by B. Winchester's, ' The 
origin of the Spaulding story concerning the 
' Manuscript Found '; with a short biography of 
Dr. P. Hulbert, the originator of the same; and 
some testimony adduced, showing it to be a sheer 
fabrication so far as its connection with the * Book 
of Mormon ' is concerned.' 

The hypothesis of the agency of Hulbert (or 
Hurlburt) rests chiefly on the testimony of one 
Jackson, who, having read both the Book of Mor- 
mon and Spaulding's manuscript, said that there 
was no agreement between them, for * Mr. Spauld- 
ing's manuscript was a very small work, in the 
form of a novel, saying not one word about the 
children of Israel, but professed to give an account 
of a race of people who originated from the 

3' Times and Seasons/ 3, 906. 



THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 373 

Romans, which Mr. Spaulding said he had trans- 
lated from a Latin parchment that he had 
found.' * 

For almost fifty years the treatises of Howe and 
Winchester contained the most valuable first-hand 
information. Other works, on both sides, simply 
rehashed the old arguments. A possible exception 
is the pamphlet, in 1882, of Robert Patterson, son 
of the Pittsburg printer. In attempting to prove 
that Rigdon was the connecting link between 
Spaulding and Smith, he acknowledged that he 
could find only five witnesses who could testify to 
Rigdon's residence in Pittsburg before 1816, and 
that none of these could speak from personal 
knowledge of Rigdon's possible employment in 
Patterson's printing office. Patterson yet asserts 
'that Rigdon as early as 1823 had possession of 
Spaulding's manuscript. How he obtained it is un- 
important; that during his career as a minister of 
the Disciples' Church in Ohio, he devoted an ab- 
sorbed attention to it; that he was aware of the 
forthcoming Book of Mormon and its contents long 
before its appearance; that the said contents were 
largely Spaulding's romance, and partly such modi- 
fications as Rigdon had introduced, and that during 
the preparation of the Booh of Mormon, Rigdon 
had repeated and long interviews with Smith, thus 

< Compare Scribner^s Magazine ^ October, 1881, p. 946. 



374 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

easily supplying him with fresh instalments of the 
pretended revelation/ 

In 1885 came an apparent settlement of the ques- 
tion, by the discovery of the alleged original of 
Spaulding's ' Manuscript Found ' in Honolulu. De- 
spite its acceptance by Latter-day Saints and their 
critics alike it appears a dubious production for 
a graduate of Dartmouth. It does not seem to 
have occurred to either side that this may be like 
McPherson's Ossianic poems — after-thoughts made 
to order; that the 'Conneaut' story which purports 
to have been translated from parchment in ' Roman 
Letters in the Latin Language' may be only 
another example of the literature of disguise; that 
w^ith Hov^e*s classic description of this Latin version 
(L) before them, the Mormon missionaries in the 
Sandwich Islands — such as W. F. Cluff and G. Q. 
Cannon — may have forged this document to fit the 
case, and to divert attention from the complexity of 
the problem. However that may be, the character- 
istics of both form and matter may be learned from 
a few excerpts and also from the correspondence 
relative to its discovery: — ^ 

' Near the west bank of the Coneaught River there are 
the remains of an ancient fort. As I was walking and 

• Words and sentences underlined were stricken out in the manu- 
script. Places marked thus . . . the copy was illegible. 



THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 375 

forming various conjectures respecting the character sit- 
uation & numbers of those people who far exceeded 
the preesent Indians in works of art and inginuety, I 
hapned to tread on a flat stone. This was at a small 
distance from the fort, & it lay on the top of a great 
small mound of Earth exactly horizontal. The face of 
it had a singular appearance. I discovered a number of 
characters, which appeared to me to be letters, but so 
much effaced by the ravages of time, that I could not 
read the inscription. 

CHAPT. I. 

AN EPITOME OF THE AUTHOR* S LIFE & OF HIS ARIVAL IN 

AMERICA. 

As it is possible that in some future age this part of 
the Earth will be inhabited by Europians & a history of 
its present inhabitants would be a valuable acquisition I 
proceed to write one & deposit it in a box secured 
. . . . so that the ravages of time will have no ef- 
fect upon it that you may know the author I will give a 
succint account of his life and of the cause of his arrival 
which I have extracted from a manuscript which will be 
deposited with this history. 

My name was is Fabius The family name I sustain is 
Fabius, being decended from the illustrious general of 
that name. I was born at Rome 

Not far behind appeared Ramack, the King of Gen- 
eseo. With Furious & resolute, he had made the utmost 
expidition to collect his forces. Nor did he delay a 
moment when his men were collected & prepared to 



376 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

move. At the head of ten Thousand bold & robust 
wariors, he appeared at the place of general rendezvoz, 
within one day after the King of Cataraugus had arrived. 
He bosted of the rapidity of his movements & tho he 
commanded the smallest division of the grand army, yet 
he anticipated distinguished laurels of glory, not less 
than what would be obtained by their first commanders. 

When these kings with their forces had all arived at 
Tolanga, the Emperor Rambock ordered them to parade 
on a great plain. They obeyed & and were formed in 
solid coilums. The Emperor then attended by his son 
Moonrod, his Counsellors & the high Priest presented 
himself before them. His garments glittered with orna- 
ments, & a bunch of long feathers of various colours 
were placed on the front of his cap. His sword he 
held in his right hand & being tall & straight in his per- 
son, & having a countenance grave & bold, when he 
walked his appearance was majestic. He was the com- 
mander in chief & such was the high esteem & rever- 
ence, with which the whole army viewed him, that none 
were considered so worthy of that station. Taking a 
stand in front of the army he brandished his sword. All 
fixed their eyes upon him & gave profound attention. 
He thus made an address. 

Brave warriors. It is with the greatest satisfaction & 
joy, that I now behold you assembled to revenge one of 
the most flagitious Crimes of which man was ever guilty.' 

Ex-President J. H. Fairchild, of Oberlin College, 
in the library of which this document now rests, 
has compared the manuscript with the Book of 
Mormon and sees no reason to doubt this is the long 



THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 377 

lost story and yet can detect no resemblance be- 
tween the two in general and in detail except that 
each professes to set forth the history of lost tribes/ 
A letter of the finder, dated Honolulu, March 28th, 
1885, to Mr. Joseph Smith, president of the Reor- 
ganized Church of L. D. S., gives further details: — 

' The Spaulding Manuscript in my possession came into 
my hands in this wise. In 1839-40 my partner and my- 
self bought of E. D. Howe the Painesville Telegraphy 
published at Painesville, Ohio. The transfer of the 
printing department, types, press, &c., v/as accompanied 
with a large collection of books, manuscripts, &c., this 
manuscript of Spaulding among the rest. So, you see, 
it has been in my possession over forty years. But I 
never examined it, or knew the character of it, until 
some six or eight months since. The wrapper was 
marked, ^Manuscript Story — Conneaut Creek.' The 
wonder is, that in some of my movements, I did not des- 
troy or bum it with a large amount of rubbish that had 
accumulated from time to time. 

It happened that Preset Fairchild was here on a visit, 
at the time I discovered the contents of it, and it was ex- 
amined by him and others with much curiosity. Since 
Pres't Fairchild published the fact of its existence in my 
possession, I have had applications for it from half a 
dozen sources, each applicant seeming to think that he or 
she was entitled to it. Mr. Howe says when he was get- 
ting up a book to expose Mormonism as a fraud at an 
early day, when the Mormons had their headquarters at 
Kirtland, he obtained it from some source, and it was in- 

6 « Bibliotheca Sacra,' January, 1885, p. 173 fif. 



378 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

advertently transferred with the other effects of the print- 
ing office. A. B. Deming, of Painesville, who is also 
getting up some kind of a book I believe on Mormon- 
ism, wants me to send it to him. 

This Manuscript does not purport to be ' a story of 
the Indians formerly occupying this continent; ' but is a 
history of the wars between the Indians of Ohio and 
Kentucky, and their progress in civilization, &c. It is 
certain that this Manuscript is not the origin of the Mor- 
mon Bible, whatever some other manuscript may have 
been. The only similarity between them, is, in the man- 
ner in which each purports to have been found — one in a 
cave on Conneaut Creek — the other in a hill in Ontario 
County, New York. There is no identity of names, of 
persons, or places ; and there is no similarity of style be- 
tween them. As I told Mr. Deming, I should as soon 
think the Book of Revelations was written by the author 
of Don Quixotte, as that the writer of this Manuscript 
was the author of the Book of Mormon. Deming says 
Spaulding made three copies of 'Manuscript Found,' 
one of which Sidney Rigdon stole from a printing office 
in Pittsburg. You can probably tell better than I can, 
what ground there is for such an allegation. In a post- 
script Mr. Rice says he found the following endorsement 
on the Manuscript : 

' The writings of Solomon Spaulding proved by Aron 
Wright, Oliver Smith, John N. Miller and others. The 
testimonies of the above gentlemen are now in my pos- 
session. 

(Signed) D. P. Hurlbut." 

Rice's subsequent conclusion that his find was 
'the only writing of Spaulding,' is contradicted by 



THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 379 

the testimony of the 'living witnesses' of 1833, 
quoted by Howe. The afifidavits of the three en- 
dorsers of the Honolulu document are as follows: 
Aaron Wright said Spaulding possessed beside 
'many other manuscripts, a history of the lost 
tribes of Israel . . . their journey from Jerusa- 
lem to America, as it is given in the Booh of Mor- 
mon, excepting the religious matter/ Oliver Smith 
said Spaulding 'was writing an historical novel 
founded upon the first settlers of this country, 
. • . their journey from Jerusalem till their ar- 
rival in America. No religious matter was intro- 
duced.' John N. Miller said, 'In 181 1 Spaulding 
had two or three books or pamphlets on differ- 
ent subjects . . . one called the "Manuscript 
Found,'' — a history of the settlement of America 
. . . from Jerusalem. I have recently examined 
the Book of Mormon, and find in it the writings of 
Solomon Spaulding, from beginning to end, but 
mixed up with scripture and other religious matter, 
which I did not meet with in the "Manuscript 
Found." Many of the passages in the Mormon 
book are verbatim from Spaulding, and others in 
part.' These three witnesses identify the Booh of 
Mormon with the Hebrew version (H). Of the 
other witnesses only one would seem to refer to 
(L). He said ' I have lately read the Booh of Mor- 
mon, and believe it to be the same as Spaulding 



380 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

wrote, except the religious part/ Now Howe's 
witnesses later contradict themselves. When the 
Latin version (L) was subsequently shown to * sev- 
eral of the foregoing witnesses' they said that it 
* bears no resemblance to the ''Manuscript Found" 
in the old scripture style.' In other words the 
'original autographs' of Spaulding were at least 
two, which of these, if either furnished matter to 
Smith for the Booh 0} Mormon, it is now impossi- 
ble to discover. 

In like manner it appears impossible to show 
how, when or through whom. Smith obtained 
a Spaulding document which became the ' source, 
root and inspiration' of the Book of Mormon. 
The general formula for the anti-Mormon theory 
is that through Patterson, Rigdon obtained a copy 
of a Spaulding document, and transmitted the 
contents to Smith, before the publication of the 
Booh of Mormon. As the question of date is all im- 
portant, the statements of the parties concerned 
should first be given and a chronological table com- 
piled therefrom. Howe having had recourse to the 
firm of Patterson & Lambdin, Pittsburg, ' Mr. Pat- 
terson said he had no recollection of any such 
manuscript being brought there for publication. 
. . . Now, as Spaulding's book can nowhere 
be found, or anything heard of it being carried to 
this establishment, there is the strongest presump- 



THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 381 

tion that it remained there in seclusion, till about 
the year 1823, or 1824, at which time Sidney Rigdon 
located himself in that city. [In] about three years ' 
he left there, and came into Geauga County, Ohio 
. . . and commenced preaching some new points 
of doctrine, which were afterwards found to be in- 
culcated in the Mormon Bible. He resided in this 
vicinity (as a minister of the Disciples' Church) 
about four years previous to the appearance of the 
book, during which time he made several long 
visits to Pittsburg, and perhaps to the Susque- 
hanna, where Smith was then digging for money, or 
pretending to be translating plates. . . . About 
the time Rigdon left Pittsburg, the Smith family 
began to tell about finding a book that would con- 
tain a history of the first inhabitants of America, 
and that two years elapsed before they finally got 
possession of it.' 

Robert Patterson, the son of the Pittsburg printer 
says: — *The theory hitherto most widely published 
. . . has been that Rigdon was a printer in Pat- 
terson's printing office when the Spaulding manu- 
script was brought there in 1812-14, and that he 
either copied or purloined it. Having it thus in his 
possession, the use made of it was an afterthought 
suggested by circumstances many years later. More 
recently another theory has been advanced, that 
Rigdon obtained possession of the Spaulding manu- 



382 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

script during his pastorate of the First Baptist Church 
or soon thereafter, 1 822-4, ... the friends of 
Rigdon, in response to the first charge, deny that he 
ever resided in Pittsburg previous to 1822, or that he 
ever was a printer, and in general answ^er to both 
charges affirm that he never at any time had access 
to Spaulding's manuscript.' 

In the Boston Journal, May 27, 1839, Rigdon 
says : ' There was no man by the name of Patterson 
during my residence at Pittsburg who had a print- 
ing office; what might have been before I lived 
there, I know not. Mr. Robert Patterson, I was 
told, had owned a printing office before I lived in 
that city. . . . This Mr. Patterson, who was a 
Presbyterian preacher, I had a very slight acquaint- 
ance with during my residence in Pittsburg. He 
was then acting under an agency in the book and 
stationery business, and was the owner of no prop- 
erty of any kind, printing office or anything else, 
during the time I resided in the city.' 

The date of Rigdon's Pittsburg residence, is not 
given specifically here or elsewhere in his writings,' 

'^Compare holograph letter, Berrian collection. There is also 
no Pittsburg Directory for 1823-24, but compare the seventy-fifth 
anniversary of the First Baptist church, now the Fourth Baptist 
church, Pittsburg, 1812-87: — 

* Sydney Rigdon was born in Allegheny County, Pa., and was 
reared on a farm about twelve miles from the city of Pittsburg. 
He learned the printer's trade. When quite a young man he was 



THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 383 

According to one who knew him late in life, as an 
ex-Mormon, Rigdon was extremely reticent as to 
his early movements/ Joseph Smith in his Auto- 
biography, inserted a life of Rigdon and prefaced it 
with the following remarks:^ 

' As there has been a great rumor, and many false 
statements have been given to the world respecting 
Elder Rigdon's connection with the Church of Jesus 
Christ, it is necessary that a correct account of the 
same be given, so that the public mind may be dis- 
abused on the subject. I shall therefore proceed to 
give a brief history of his life down, from authentic 

baptized into the fellowship of the Peter's Creek Baptist church by 
Elder David Phillips. He afterwards moved to Warren, Ohio, 
" from which," says Rev. S. Williams, in his pamphlet, " Mormon- 
ism Exposed," " he came to this city, and connected himself with 
the first regular Baptist church, then in its infancy, on the 28th 
day of January, 1822. He took the pastoral charge of the church, 
but before the close of one short year he began to advance senti- 
ments not in accordance with divine truth." He held to «< baptismal 
regeneration." . . . For this, " and many other abominable 
errors, he was condemned by a council of ministers and messengers 
from neighboring churches, which convened in Pittsburg on the 
nth of October, 1823." . . . "By this decision he was 
excluded from the Baptist denomination." He died at Friendship, 
a village in Allegheny County, N. Y., July 14th, 1876.' 

8 « Times and Seasons,* 4, 172 ff. April, 1843, ^^ ^^^ ^^ V^^- ^v* 
' Compare manuscript editorial by Dill, Aug. 5, 1876. The 
writer merely adds confusion to the chronology. He says that the 
Spaulding manuscript was within the reach of Rigdon between 
181 1 and 1819, and of Smith between 1819-1826. He adds that 
Rigdon preached at Mentor, Lake County, Ohio, 1827-1829; and 
at Palmyra, New York, 1830. 



384 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

sources, as also an account of his connection with 
the Church of Christ/ 

Joseph Smith, in 1843, also said of Rigdon that he 
was pastor of the First Baptist church in Pittsburg 
from Feb., 1822, to August, 1824. In 1826 he went 
to Bainbridge, Ohio, preaching there and at Mantua 
his own and Alexander Campbell's doctrines of re- 
pentance and baptism for the remission of sins and 
the gift of the Holy Ghost. In 1827 he went to 
Mentor, thirty miles from Bainbridge, and near 
Lake Erie. The doctrines he there advanced were 
new, especially the Biblical prophecies concerning 
the Literal Restoration of Israel. The eight months 
he was there he baptized many. In the Fall of 
1830, Parley Pratt, Oliver Cowdery and Peter Whit- 
mer baptized and ordained Rigdon as a Mormon 
Elder. Previous to this Pratt had been a preacher 
in the same church with Rigdon in Amherst, Lorain 
County, Ohio, and had been sent to New York State 
where he met Joseph Smith, junior. Rigdon's pre- 
vailing characteristic was his entire freedom from 
any sectarian bias. After a fortnight's reading of 
the Booh of Mormon he was converted. In De- 
cember, 1830, came the first revelation to Joseph and 
Sidney at Fayette, New York, saying that Sidney 
had prepared the way, and in the same month, the 
second, saying that ' it is not expedient that ye 
should translate any more, until ye shall go to the 



m 



THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 385 

Ohio.' In January, 1831, Joseph went with Sidney 
to the branch of the church in Kirtland, Ohio. 



TABLE I. 

CHRONOLOGY OF RIGDON*S MOVEMENTS IN RELATION TO THE 
BOOK OF MORMON. 

Anti-Morinon. Mormon, 

Came to Pittsburg 1812-14 (P)io 

Came to Pittsburg or 1823-24 (H) 

Baptist pastor in Pittsburg. . 1822-24 (P) 1822-24 

Preaches * Campbellism ' in 

Bainbridge, Ohio .... 1826-27 (H) 1826 

Makes long visits to Pitts- 
burg and perhaps the Sus- 
quehanna 1826-30 (H) 

Preaches Restoration of the 

Jews, &c., at Mentor, Ohio, [About] 

until September, 1827 

Visits Warren, Ohio.^^ . . March, 1 828 

Debates with A. Campbell at 
Austintown, Ohio .... 

Baptized by Mormons Parley 

Pratt, &c., Kirtland, Ohio. . October, 1830 

Visits Smith at Fayette, New 

York December, 1830 

Returns with Smith to Kirt- 
land, Ohio January, 1 831 



TABLE II. 

CHRONOLOGY OF SMITH'S MOVEMENTS IN RELATION TO THE BOOK 
OF M0RM0N.12 

Learns of « certain plates * in Manchester, New 

York September, 1823 

Obtains the plates at Manchester, New York . . September, 1827 



»o P=Patterson ; H— Howe. 

" Kennedy, p. 66. 

^2 Compare * Times and Seasons,* * Handbook of Reference,' 
* Book of Commandments,' * Biographical Sketches,' < Pearl of 
Great Price.' 



386 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Translates at Harmony, Pennsylvania, December, 1827, June, 
1829, April 1 2- June 14, 1828. 

Translation recommenced at Harmony, Penn- 
sylvania April 7, 1829 

Three Revelations about * a marvelous work February, April 
about to come forth, and May 

Translation continued at Fayette, New York . . June, 1829 

Book of Mormon copyrighted in Northern Dis- 
trict of New York June II, 1829 

Book 0/ Mormon -pnntQd at Palmyra, New York July, 1830 

First Revelation to Joseph and Sidney, in Fay- 
ette, New York, * Thou wast sent forth to 
prepare the way.* December, 1830 

Second Revelation * It is not expedient that ye 

should translate any more * December, 1830 



By comparing the above tables, it is seen that the 
Mormon sources do not account for Rigdon's move- 
ments from about September, 1827, to October, 1830, 
during which time Howe supposes the visits were 
made to Smith at Harmony, Pennsylvania. Another 
supposition is that if Rigdon had no direct connection 
himself, it may have been through this Ohio assoc- 
iate Pratt. According to Smith's account, ' Elder 
Parley Pratt had been a preacher in the same church 
with Elder Rigdon, and resided in the town of Am- 
herst, Lorain County, in that state, and had been sent 
into the State of New York, on a mission, where he 
had become acquainted with the circumstances of 
the coming forth of the Book of MormoUy and was 
introduced to Joseph Smith, junior, and others of the 
Church of Latter-day Saints. After listening to the 
testimonies of the ''witnesses," and reading the 



THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 387 

*'Book," he became convinced . . . and was 
baptized.' 

Now the witnesses ' viewed * the plates some time 
in June, 1829, while the Book of Mormon was copy- 
righted the nth instant. From the approximation 
of dates, it is difficult to see how Pratt could have 
had time to be the go-between. Thus, judging from 
the time of Pratt's mission, the period of Rigdon's 
direct collusion is likewise narrowed. If he had per- 
sonal intercourse with Smith, it must have been be- 
tween September, 1827, and June, 1829, but these 
are the dates, respectively, of the obtaining of the 
plates and the copyright of the book. In other words 
the period of manufacture of the Book of Mormon 
coincides with the period in which Rigdon's move- 
ments are unaccounted for. 

The gap in the Mormon sources is significant 
and much has been made of it by the opposition. 
For example, it was 'afterwards discovered that 
Rigdon's occasional business calls from Kirtland 
and Mentor tallied with the visits of the mys- 
terious stranger at the Smith residence.' To uphold 
this double assumption, no dates are given except 
that, in March, 1828, Rigdon was at Warren, Ohio, 
and this was over two hundred miles from Smith's 
itinerary. In fine, Rigdon is a doubtful connect- 
ing link; the presumption of collusion is only nega- 
tive; the argument from silence is strong, but the 



388 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

case falls, if an alibi can be proved for Rigdon,— 
if he was not at Harmony, Pennsylvania, or Fayette, 
New York, during the six actual months of trans- 
lating. Smith is justly entitled to the authorship of 
the Booh of Mormon. 

The external evidence leaves the battle drawn; it 
is not so with the internal evidence. Judging from 
the characteristics of the book, the proof of authen- 
ticity is decisive. In form it has no resemblance to 
the Honolulu manuscript; in matter it needs neither 
Rigdon's personality nor Spaulding's romances to 
account for itself. Take the four marks of the 
book, and compare them with what is known of 
Rigdon. In old age his style was redundant,'^ while 
in 1821 Alexander Campbell called him * the great 
orator of the Mahoning Association,'* and, as a 
minister of the Disciples in the Western Reserve, he 
was described as fluent in utterance and copious in 
language.'' 

If Rigdon's style, at this time, was better, so with 
his twelve years of seniority over Smith, his knowl- 
edge was wider.'' In particular, in the Western Re- 

*3 Rigdon's holograph letter (Berrian collection). 

^^ Millennial Harbinger^ 1848, p. 523. 

^5 A. S. Hay den, * Early History of the Disciples in the Western 
Reserve,' 1876, p. 191. 

^6 Compare Overland Monthly ^ December, 1890. Charlotte Hav- 
en's letter, March 5th and 6th, 1843 • * Sidney Rigdon, the most 
learned man among the Latter-day Saints. . . . He has an 



THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 389 

serve, he was counted learned in the history of the 
world. Moreover as to archaeology, he seems to 
have taken no interest in Americana; the only point 
of resemblance is in his unsystematic theology. His 
frequent sectarian changes were unique even for that 
day. In 1819, he was an old school Baptist; in 
1821, he came under the influence of Alexander 
Campbell the 'new light'; with him he ultimately 
differed on communistic ideas, which he had mean- 
while absorbed, from a leader of the Disciple church 
in Ohio. The so-called Campbellite baptism for the 
remission of sins does not occur in the Book of 
Mormon, while the insistence on faith '' is partly 
plagiarized from Scripture, partly due to Smith's 
dabbling with the occult. Smith's creed of 1844'' 

intelligent countenance, a courteous manner, and speaks grammat- 
ically. He talks very pleasantly about his travels in this country 
and Europe, but is very reticent about his religion. I have heard 
it stated that he was Smith's chief aid in getting up the " Book of 
Mormon " and creed. He is so far above Smith in intellect, educ- 
ation, and secretiveness, that there is scarcely a doubt that he is at 
the head in compiling it. I looked over his library — it was a very 
good student's collection,— Hebrew, Greek, and Latin lexicons and 
readers, stray volumes of Shakespeare, Scott, Irving's works, and a 
number of other valuable books. 

. . . [" The Book of Mormon "] we find no creed in it, no 
article on which to found a religion. It might have been written 
by a much less intelligent man than Sidney Rigdon.' 

"*Book of Mormon,' pp. 246, 329, 332, 333, 597-9, 614; com- 
pare also the * Seven Lectures on Faith,' in * Doctrine and Cove- 
nants.' 

18 « Times and Seasons,' 3, 709. 



390 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

promulgates these among his five ordinances: faith; 
repentance; baptism by immersion for the remission 
of sins; and the laying on of hands for the gift of 
the Holy Ghost. Again, in 1832, Alexander Camp- 
bell sharply attacked the Book of Mormon and its 
contents/' The alleged Discipleism inherent in Mor- 
monism is still denied by the more orthodox apolo- 
gists. '' 

1^ * Delusions ; an Analysis of the " Book of Mormon," with an 
Examination of its Internal and External Evidences, and a Refuta- 
tion of its Pretense to Divine Authority,* Boston, 1832. 

20 J. F. McDowell, * Discipleism, or the Claims of Alexander 
Campbell to a Restored Primitive Christianity Examined,* 1901, 
p. 12: 

* We have therefore weighed this church in the balance of God*s 
word and found it wanting, rendering the following count of in- 
dictments against it : 

1. They have no apostles. 

2. They have no prophets. 

3. No seventies. 

4. No priests. 

5. No bishops. 

6. No teachers. 

7. The signs or gifts of Mark 16 : 17, 18, do not follow them. 

8. They do not lay on hands, after baptism, for the gift of the 
Holy Spirit. 

9. They do not call the elders for the sick, as directed in James 

5 • H, 15- 

10. They do not teach the resurrection of the dead as taught in 
the Bible. 

11. They do not teach the Bible doctrine of eternal judgment. 

12. They claim to teach baptism for remission of sins, but con- 
tradict themselves by taking people into their fellowship from other 
churches who have not been so baptized, without rebaptism. 

13. They do not lay on hands for the blessing of little children. 

14. They teach that the church existed for the first time on the 
day of Pentecost. 

15. They believe and teach that the gospel was never taught, in 
fact, until the day of Pentecost. 

16. They do not teach the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 

We will now let the reader decide how far Mr. Campbell and 



THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 391 

But the question of the injection of these doc- 
trines into the Book of Mormon, through the 
agency of Rigdon, is again a question of date. 
The Declaration of the two Campbells against ' the 
divided and disturbed condition of the religious 
community/ came out in 1809,'' but before Rigdon 
came over from Ohio, Campbell's teachings v^ere 
spread broadcast over the country," andDiscipleism 
had spread northeast into New York.^^ Already in 
the days of Joseph's money digging there existed 
these Disciples of Christ near Ithaca, through which 
ran the State road from Binghampton to the Susque- 
hanna. Yet there are three special doctrines which 
Rigdon is said to have taught among the Disciples 
in Ohio, and then put into the Book of Mormon. 

his successors have been successful in restoring primitive, original 
Christianity. The Bible does teach the probability and possibility 
of a restoration of the gospel and kingdom of God in the latter 
days, as foreshadowed in Matthew 24: 14; Malachi 3: 1-3; Reve- 
lation 14 : 6, 7 ; and that after the restoration had occurred some 
would depart from the faith, as note i Timothy 4:1. The words 
" the faith," evidently have reference to the entire gospel scheme, 
as implied by Paul in Ephesians 4 : 5.' 

21 Rupp, p. 209. * The Disciples of Christ,' * Analysis of the 
Great Salvation,' * the sole principle is faith and the prime means 
baptism by immersion.' 

22 Venable, p. 220. Between 1823 and 1830, A. Campbell issued 
46,000 * volumes ' of his works. Bethany, Ohio, near Wheeling, 
was made a post-office on account of the extensive mail he received 
and dispatched. 

23 It was at Enfield, that these Christ-ians, a variety of < New 
Lights,' flourished. Also, Lorenzo Young speaks of a Campbellite 
revival in Schuyler County. 



392 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

The first of these, Communism, is not mentioned 
in the text, while new revelations and miracles and 
gifts of the Spirit are not unusual recrudescences 
due to a literal interpretation of scripture." 

Without penetrating further into the wilderness 
of minor sects,""' it is the historic background of 
western New York, in the third decade, more than 
any ' mysterious stranger ' from the West, that acts 
for the Book of Mormon and its doctrinal contents. 
The proof of authenticity is cumulative: especially 
do the minor movements, reflected in the narrative, 
show that the book is in accordance with its sup- 
posed historical position, as to time, place and cir- 
cumstances. Thus the Morgan excitement by fixing 
the lower limit of date as 1826, excludes the Spauld- 
ing theory in its crudest form of entire incorporation. 
Even if any Spaulding manuscript were used as a 
mere basis and slight framework, it would not in- 

24 Private Bible reading brought out these ideas. Compare 
'Biographical Sketches,' p. 21. Joseph's uncle, Jason Mack, as a 
Seeker, believed * that by prayer and faith, the gifts of the gospel, 
which were enjoyed by the ancient disciples, might be attained.' 
Also compare P. Pratt, 'Autobiography,' p. 31, who said of Rig- 
don's preaching, * here was the ancient gospel in due form ; his views 
were mine, — baptism for the remission of sins and the gift of the 
Holy Ghost.' Finally compare A. Campbell, 1824, < We neither 
advocate Calvinism, Arminianism, Socinianism, Arianism, Trini- 
tarianism, Unitarianism, Deism, nor Sectarianism, but New Testa- 
mentism.' 

25 Compare * Book of Mormon,' 56, 124, 235, 327, 369, 370, 379, 
468-470, 503, 566. 



THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 393 

validate the essential integrity of the work. Al- 
though this purported series of plates ^^ cannot be 
called the product of one mind 'as an organic 
whole/" yet the integrity of the Book of Mormon 
is not thereby impaired; the discrete parts are bound 



26 Viz. : I. of Laban; 2. of Lehi; 3. do. abridged by Nephi; 
4. do. containing * more history part * ; 5. do. * more ministry 
part*; 6. do. * mine own prophecies'; 7. of Zarahemla; 8. of 
Mormon abridging 5 ; 9. from Jacob to King Benjamin ; 10. of 
Zeniff; 1 1, of Ether; 12. of Alma and his afflictions; 13. of 
Jared; 14. Copies of * Scriptures ' ; 15. Records of emigrants to 
North; 16. Epistles of twelve prophets at various times. 

ST The alleged Cowdery interpolations seem impossible when 
compared with this Johnsonese passage of his, describing the scene 
of Joseph's money digging. < Letters,' p. 38 : — « Some forty miles 
south, or down the river, in the town of Harmony, Susquehanna 
County, Pennsylvania, is said to be a cave or subterraneous recess, 
whether entirely formed by art or not I am uninformed, neither 
does this matter ; but such is said to be the case, — where a com- 
pany of Spaniards, a long time since, when the country was unin- 
habited by white settlers, excavated from the bowels of the earth 
ore, and coined a large quantity of money ; after which they se- 
cured the cavity and evacuated, leaving a part still in the cave, 
purposing to return at some distant period. A long time elapsed 
and this account came from one of the individuals who was first 
engaged in this mining business. The country was pointed out 
and the spot minutely described. This, I believe, is the substance, 
so far as my memory serves, though I shall not pledge my veracity 
for the correctness of the account as I have given. Enough, how- 
ever, was credited of the Spaniard's story to excite the belief of 
many that there was a fine sum of the precious metal lying coined 
in this subterraneous vault, among whom was our employer; and 
accordingly our brother was required to spend a few months with 
some others in excavating the earth, in pursuit of this treasure.' 



394 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

together, as it were, by a single cord. It is the line 
of life, the thread of autobiography, that discloses 
the real origin of the book. The various experi- 
ences of the various American prophets, could 
almost be said to form a ' Biographical Sketch of 
Joseph Smith the Prophet and his Progenitors, for 
many Generations.' If the discovery of the gold 
plates was suggested by the paternal dream of the 
Magic Box, and the beginning of the Book of Mor- 
mon incorporates the dream of the Fruit Tree, so the 
cord of Joseph junior's experience runs unbroken 
from I Nephi to Moroni. Without the aid of the 
commentator to explain the prophecies of the ' com- 
ing laborer in the vineyard' as Joseph Smith, one 
can read between the lines the meanings of the 
frequent visions, of the stones for interpreting, of 
the visits of the angels which strike the beholder 
* dumb, weak and helpless.^^ 

To sum up: These marks of the book are not 
the marks of the man Rigdon. Negatively,— there 
is but slight coincidence in career with that of the 
visionary, crystal-gazing youth, and there is as little 
resemblance in temperament; positively, — the simi- 
larity of style is exact between the ' Account written 
by the hand of Mormon ' and Joseph's synchronous 

28 * Book of Mormon,' 144, 228, 346, 225, 349. For other bio- 
graphical hints compare 15, 20, 21, 34, 38, 44, 45, 114, 1 15, 180, 
181, 291, 292, 324, 559, 570, 576, 581, 574, 598, 603, 613. 



THE SPAULDING-RIGDON THEORY 395 

writings contained in the Book of Commandments ; 
finally on the title page of the first edition of the 
Booh of Mormon is that inadvertent admission of 
authorship. 






APPENDIX IV 
POLYGAMY AND HYPNOTISM 



APPENDIX IV 

POLYGAMY AND HYPNOTISM 

The aim of this appendix is fourfold: — to show 
that Joseph Smith was, to some degree, implicated 
in polygamous practices ; to trace the effects on his 
public career; to present his crass metaphysical 
theory of polygamy, finally to show that some of 
his illicit purposes were effected through hypnotic 
influence. 

It has been claimed that the doctrine of * spiritual 
wifery ' was introduced by the older men and not 
by Smith. There were three chief scapegoats. In 
June, 1833, Dr. P. Hurlbut, before a conference of 
high-priests at Kirtland, * was accused of unchris- 
tian conduct with the women.' In 1843 the * spirit- 
ual wife system ' was fathered upon Dr. Bennett, 
and affidavits were issued against his statement that 
Smith allowed adultery. Lastly in September, 1844, 
Rigdon was made to bear the brunt of odium. In 
his trial at Nauvoo, the following allegations were 
made: — that he talked of exposing the secrets and 
iniquity of the Saints; that he came here with a 

spirit as corrupt as hell and charged the Twelve 

399 



400 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

with being adulterers; that he himself had been 
wallowing in filth and corruption for four or five 
years past; that Brother Joseph shook him off at the 
conference a year ago; that Sister Emma had a 
good many feelings against Elder Rigdon; that 
Brigham Young finally said that enough was 
brought forward at the conference, but that Brother 
Hyrum plead so hard that it was kept back. 

Now for the other side of the case, and the 
counter charges against the prophet. If the evi- 
dence against Rigdon is ex parte, the evidence 
against Smith is circumstantial. The prophet's 
testimony as to his opponent's actions was declared 
unprintable, yet, at the same time, Smith urged that 
there should be kept a record of ' spiritual ' marriages. 
But to go back and trace the beginnings of the mat- 
ter: in the early days of Mormonism there appear to 
have been certain underground practices which 
were first scorned but finally embraced. In Janu- 
ary, 1833, Smith tells Brother Gilbert that Mow in- 
sinuations God hates, but He rejoices in an honest 
heart and knows better who is guilty than he does.' 
The next month the prophet said he received reve- 
lations * to unfold the mysteries of the Kingdom ' 
and also that ' my handmaid, Vienne Jaques, should 
receive money to bear her expenses, and go up into 
the land of Zion.' On the verge of the unprintable 
testimony of the Rigdon trial there is an incidental 



POLYGAMY AND HYPNOTISM 401 

reference to this 'handmaid/ as 'that French- 
woman.' In July, 1833, Smith wrote to the brethren 
in Zion to * guard against evils which may arise 
from accounts given of women.' On December 
loth, Gilbert again wrote a letter which the prophet 
declared contained Mow, dark and blind insinua- 
tions ' ; for this the brother was threatened with 
excommunication. As regards the first point there 
is no proof positive of Smith's early implication in 
polygamy, but the suspicion of participation in 
illicit private practices is strengthened by the vicissi- 
tudes of his later public career. 

'The pages of General Smith's history,' says an 
editorial in the Times and Seasons, 'though his 
enemies never ceased to persecute him and hunt for 
offenses against him, are as unsullied as virgin 
snow.' But the passages already cited are from 
Smith's History; if they do not allow of loose con- 
struction, it is possible to turn to the words and 
writings of other Saints. The Mormons themselves 
have furnished an answer to what William Smith 
called ' the unaccountable problem ' why Mormons 
are 'numbered with Indians, Hottentots, Arabs, 
Turks, Wolverines and horned cattle.' In October, 
1843, an adherent of Brigham Young said, 'It is 
true that our city is open for all who wish to come, 
but we wish to have the privilege of enjoying our 
religion and "peculiarities" unmolested.' 'Those 



402 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

who tell lies about " mysteries *' to injure the Saints,' 
it was added later, ' forget the Mormon creed ''Mind 
your own business/* * In April, 1844, Hyrum Smith 
proclaimed that ' Every Elder that goes from 
Nauvoo to preach the gospel, if he preach anything 
else, we will silence him through the public prints/ 
A month after this, Elder Dykes, preaching in Pitts- 
burg, said, ' the audience had never heard a Saint 
before; they had many and awful conjectures about 
the truth.' At a church conference in Michigan, ten 
days later, 'the elders were strictly charged to keep 
within the limits of the first principles and let the 
mysteries alone/ One week afterwards, in Illinois, 
the first number of the Nauvoo Expositor was pub- 
lished. It contained affidavits from several women 
alleging illicit invitation from high church digni- 
taries. The official repudiation runs, 'Its columns 
teemed with vituperative abuse of Joseph and his 
friends. That it was the fixed purpose of its man- 
agers to continue that defamatory course, was evi- 
dent from the matter contained in its columns and 
in their private admissions. They aimed to attack 
the characters of many respectable citizens of both 
sexes. The tone of the sheet was vulgar, scurril- 
ous, and untruthful. The people felt themselves 
outraged.' 

In the meanwhile the Times and Seasons saw 
fit to publish an 'extract from a letter from 



POLYGAMY AND HYPNOTISM 403 

the vicinity of Nauvoo,' which says, 'The excite- 
ment on both sides of the river against the Mor- 
mons is increasing very fast. The conduct of 
Joseph Smith and the other leaders, is such that no 
community of white men can tolerate/ On June 
1 8th, General Smith, Mayor of Nauvoo, declared the 
city under martial law^, and ordered the city mar- 
shal to see that ' no persons pass in or out of the 
city without due orders.' Nine days after this, the 
prophet was shot down by state militia in Carthage 
jail, having first emptied two barrels of his six- 
shooter into the crowd of his assailants. To touch 
on the political issues of this 'martyrdom' is to 
summarize the evidence for the second count: that 
it was not merely territorial aspirations, tampering 
with slaves and other alleged charges that checked 
Smith's public career, but also the neglect to sup- 
press the more or less subterranean practice of 
polygamy. 

In the third place, to turn to the theory of the 
thing, and to seek to determine Smith's share in the 
metaphysics of Mormonism, — if one may so term 
their crude materialism. The early documents 
should first be looked at. Orson Pratt as commen- 
tator of the Book of Mormon deduces an inherent 
doctrine of polygamy from the large size of the 
Nephite families. This is practically inconsistent 
with the anti-polygamy passage, previously quoted, 



404 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 



1 



but not theoretically inconsistent with the later 
Mormon canonical writings. Revelation being con- 
tinuous is retroactive. In this way the monoga- 
mous Book of Commandments is modified and 
superseded by the polygamous book of Doctrine 
and Covenants, In the former the seventh com- 
mandment is emphasized, but the successive edi- 
tions of the latter gradually approach the full fledged 
Revelation on the Plurality of Wives. 

As early as October, 1831, a revelation was ad- 
dressed through the seer to William E. McLellin: 
' Commit not adultery, a temptation with which thou 
hast been troubled.' By 1835, the trouble in the 
camp of Zion called out this public disavowal: * In- 
asmuch as this Church of Christ has been reproached 
with the crime of fornication, and polygamy : we 
declare that we believe, that one man should have 
one wife; and one woman, but one husband, except 
in case of death, when either is at liberty to marry 
again. It is not right to persuade a woman to be 
baptized contrary to the will of her husband, neither 
is it lawful to influence her to leave her husband.* * 

In 1839, Parley Pratt issued his Persecutions of the 
Latter-day Saints; in chapter ten of this pamphlet 
the author insisted that there was no polygamy 
among the Mormons. One year later Orson Pratt 
published his Treatise on the Regeneration and 

> * Doctrine and Covenants/ first edition, § lOI, 



POLYGAMY AND HYPNOTISM 405 

Eternal Duration of Matter. This contained, in 
germ, those teachings on the ' Preexistence of 
Man ' and ' Celestial Marriage ' which now form 
part of the Creed of the Utah Saints. In 1841, in 
answer to numerous questioners Joseph Smith 
issued his Articles of Faith,^ the last of which runs : 

2 < We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son Jesus 
Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. 

We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and 
not for Adam's transgression. 

We believe that, through the atonement of Christ, all mankind 
may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. 

We believe that these ordinances are : First, Faith in the Lord 
Jesus Christ ; Second, Repentance ; Third, Baptism by immersion 
for the remission of sins ; Fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift 
of the Holy Ghost. 

We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and 
by laying on of hands, by those who are in authority, to preach the 
gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof. 

We believe in the same organization that existed in the primi- 
tive Church, viz. : Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, Teachers, Evangel- 
ists, etc. 

We believe in the gifts of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, 
healing, interpretation of tongues, etc. 

We believe the Bible to be the Word of God, as far as it is 
translated correctly ; we also believe the * Book of Mormon ' to be 
the Word of God. 

We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now re- 
veal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and im- 
portant things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. 

We believe in the literal gathering of Israel, and in the restora- 
tion of the Ten Tribes ; that Zion will be built upon this con- 
tinent ; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth, and that 
the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisaic glory. 

We claim the privilege of worshipping Almighty God according 



4o6 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

'We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevo- 
lent, virtuous/ 

Thus far polygamy was esoteric; it was not till 
after Smithes death that the doctrine was publicly 
avowed in such brochures as Orson Spencer's 
Patriarchal Order, or Plurality of Wives. In the 
meantime the prophet had written for the elect his 
notorious Revelation on the Eternity of the Marriage 
Covenant, including Plurality of IVives.^ His son 
Joseph Smith 3d, founder of the ' Reorganized 
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,' has at- 
tempted to disprove the authenticity of this revelation 
of July 1 2th, 1843/ It is true that the 1845 edition 
of the Doctrine and Covenants does not contain this 
revelation, while the last volume of the Times and 
Seasons of 1846, contains the prophefs History only 
through August nth, 1834. The external evidence 

to the dictates of our conscience, and allow all men the same 
privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may. 

We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and 
magistrates, in obeying, honoring and sustaining the law. 

We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, 
and in doing good to all men ; indeed, we may say that we follow 
the admonition of Paul, We believe all things, we hope all things, 
we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all 
things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or 
praiseworthy, we seek after these things. 

Joseph Smith.' 

8 See end of this Appendix. 

* Compare < Reply to Orson Pratt,' also * One Wife or Many ? ' 
and * Was Joseph Smith a Polygamist ? * 



POLYGAMY AND HYPNOTISM 407 

may be negative, but the internal is not. The 
publication was posthumous, but the sentiments 
were anything but post-mortem. The passages 
commanding Emma Smith to be virtuous, while her 
husband may do as he pleases, are borne out by the 
extracts already quoted and especially by Mrs. 
Kimball's testimony, as given below. 

But to present briefly the Mormon theory 
whereby these practices are justified, and then to 
determine Smith's share in them. * Celestial ' mar- 
riage, according to the orthodox Saints, opens the 
way for all women who wish to marry to fill the 
measure of their creation. ... It shows how 
the innumerable creations of God [/. e,, this world 
and other planets] may be peopled with intel- 
ligences. . . . Woman without man and man 
without woman cannot be saved. The larger the 
progeny a man has, the greater will be the fulness 
of his eternal glory. . . . God was once a 
man, but He has so advanced in intelligence and 
power that He may now be called, comparatively 
speaking, perfect, infinite etc., but He has still the 
form and figure of a man. This anthopomorphism 
was thus presented by Orson Pratt in his Ab- 
surdities of Immaterialism as early as 1849: — 'The 
resemblance between man and God has reference, 
as we have already observed, to the shape or figure; 
other qualities may or may not resemble each 



4o8 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

other. Man has legs, so has God, as is evident 
from His appearance to Abraham. Man walks 
with his legs, so does God sometimes, as is evi- 
dent from His going with Abraham towards Sodom. 
God cannot only walk, but He can move up 
or down through the air without using His 
legs as in the process of walking. (See Gen. 
17:22; also 11:5; also 35: 13. — *'A man wrestled 
with Jacob until the breaking of day ; " after which, 
Jacob says—*' I have seen God face to face, and my 
life is preserved." — Gen. ^2\ 24-30. That this per- 
son had legs is evident from his wrestling with 
Jacob. His image and likeness was so much like 
man's, that Jacob at first supposed him to be a 
man. — (See 24th verse.) God, though in the 
figure of a man, has many powers that man has 
not got. He can go upwards through the air. He 
can waft Himself from world to world by His own 
self-moving powers. These are powers not pos- 
sessed by man only through faith, as in the in- 
stances of Enoch and Elijah. Therefore, though in 
the figure or a man, He has powers far superior to 
man. . . . The Godhead may be further illustrated 
by a council, consisting of three men — all possessing 
equal wisdom, knowledge, and truth, together with 
equal qualifications in every other respect. Each 
person would be a separate distinct person or sub- 
stance from the other two, and yet the three would 



POLYGAMY AND HYPNOTISM 409 

form but one council. Each alone possesses, by 
supposition, the same wisdom and truth that the 
three united or the one council possesses.'^ 

Two months before his death the prophet taught 
practically the same doctrines as Pratt. The fol- 
lowing are extracts from his conference speech of 
April, 1844: — 

'First, God Himself, who sits enthroned in yonder 
heavens, is a man like unto one of yourselves, that is the 
great secret. . . . The first Hebrew word in the 
Bible reads, Uhe head one of the Gods brought 
forth the Gods in the Grand Council. . . . The 
word create means to organize. . . . Hence we 
infer that God had materials to organize the world 
out of chaos. . . . Intelligence exists upon a self- 
existent principle, there is no creation about it. All the 
spirits that God ever sent into the world are susceptible 
of enlargement . . . have a privilege to advance 
like Himself. . . . These things were given me by 
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. ... I can enter 
into the mysteries ; I can enter largely into the eternal 
worlds.' 

If Smith may be said to have had any metaphys- 
ical theory of polygamy, it may be found in these 
distorted borrowings; but, at the least, these preach- 

5 Compare « Handbook of Reference/ The Religion of the 
Latter-day Saints ; P. P. Pratt, * Key to the Science of Theology ' ; 
Orson Spencer, * Patriarchal Order, or Plurality of Wives ' ; The 
Seer, pp. 30, 38, 103. 



4IO THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

ments had corresponding practices, as is shown by 
certain social bye-products of the system. 

The materialism of the Latter-day Saints has 
been compared to fourth century Gnosticism/ 
and attempts have actually been made to connect 
Mormon mysteries with Eleusinian mysteries/ 
The connection is absurdly impossible, yet there 
appears to have been a dash of ethnic occultism in 
the practices of the Saints. To get at this, one is 
forced to notice the subterranean, to explore the 
cloaca maxima of Mormon literature, — the various 
' exposures ' of renegades and apostates. The de- 
scriptions of 'endowment' rites as reported by 
Hyde, Van Dusen and other 'Jack-Mormons' are 
in themselves untrustworthy; they nevertheless 
present this common feature — a resemblance to 
certain scenes which took place in France two gen- 
erations before. The alleged doings in the Nauvoo 
temple are like the real doings around Mesmer's 
baquets magnettques, practice which, in their hys- 
teric excesses, called forth the secret report of the 
royal commissioners on the dangers of magnetism 
in respect to morality.^ 

There is here indeed, an analogy as to abnormal 
psychoses, but in addition to the general inference 

« McClintock and Strong, article « Mormonism.' 

•» T. W. P. Taylder, * The Mormon's Own Book,' Chapter 4. 

8 Binet and F6r6, p. 18. 



POLYGAMY AND HYPNOTISM 411 

there are more specific statements. The arch- 
apostate Maria Ward, author of Female Life Among 
the Mormons, asserts that she was mesmerized into 
marrying, some time after Parley Pratt had taught 
Mr. Ward the secrets of magnetism. Finally an 
anonymous pamphlet entitled Anna Little, the 
Mesmeric Seeress of Nauvoo, tells how this clair- 
voyant wonder had so completely mastered the 
science of animal magnetism that Joseph Smith 
knew the value of such an auxiliary and kept her in 
the sanctuary of the Communicant Sisters. All 
these statements are disallowed by the Saints and 
are, in truth, of secondary evidential value; they 
yet resemble one another in containing the everlast- 
ing charge brought against dabblers in the occult, 
from the Neoplatonists to the Spiritualists, — the 
charge that over-indulgence in abnormal psychic 
practices tends to looseness in moral standards. 

There remains evidence of primary value that the 
Mormons, in some instances, exercised over their 
adherents undue influence of a quasi-hypnotic 
character. The legal side of the case may serve as 
a standpoint, for the courts early took cognizance 
of the matter. In 1844 a Tennessee lawyer declared 
that the Mormon methods were unlawful; in 1848, 
in Ohio, there was recorded a ' Law Case, exhibiting 
the most extraordinary developments peculiar to 
modern times, arising from an implicit obedience to 



412 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

the dictates of Mesmeric clairvoyance as related by 
a Mormon prophet/ ® 

Turning to Joseph Smith and his apparent hyp- 
notic influence over people, his early suggestive 
successes must be kept in mind before taking up 
the case of Mrs. Kimball. But the three w^itnesses 
to the Book of Mormon, and Newel Knight the 
demoniac, and those * cured by faith * v^ere not the 
only subjects. Like the present day Kentucky ex- 
horter, who calls out the revivalistic 'jerks,' the 
prophet seems to have been the means of inducing 
a real collective hypnosis. 'His eloquence,' says 
Parley Pratt, ' was not polished and studied, not 
smoothed and softened by education. I have even 
known him to retain a congregation of willing and 
anxious listeners for many hours together while they 
were laughing one moment and weeping the next.' ^® 

But finally besides influencing crowds by his 
speech and his presence. Smith appears to have 
learned that mental suggestion may be efficacious 
not only at the instant, but some time after. ^^ How 

9 Compare Sabin, < Bibliotheca Americana,' Volume ix, No. 
39,340. This pamphlet was published at Cincinnati, where the 
city ordinances early prohibited public mesmeric exhibitions, and 
where there was some complaint of the difficulty of keeping 
female servants out of the clutches of the Mormons. 

^0 < Journal,' p. 47. 

" Of deferred suggestion, Moll says, p. 157, < any suggestion that 
takes effect in hypnosis, will also take place post-hypnotically.' 



POLYGAMY AND HYPNOTISM 413 

far the chief of the Saints utilized the principle of 
suggestibility, immediate or deferred, in the sub- 
jugation of neurotic women is indeterminable. The 
allegations of ruined and perjured apostates are as 
little to be believed as, for example, the statement 
of the interested Brigham Young that Emily and 
Eliza Patridge were 'sealed' to the prophet, Emma 
Smith being present and giving her * full and free 
consent for them to be the wives of Joseph.'" 
If such things were done, they were done on the 
sly. In September, 1843, a sister of a Mormon 
convert, who had noticed that Elder Adams had 
brought an extra wife from England, wrote home 
that she could not believe that Joseph would ever 
sanction the doctrine of patriarchal plurality.^^ Yet 
four months before this, a practical sanction had 
been given. Littlefield asserts, on the best author- 
ity, that beside the two women already mentioned 
Maria and Sarah Laurence were declared to have 
been ' sealed' to the prophet.^* But of all the cases, 
that of Mrs. Lucy Walter Kimball is the most au- 
thentic, and bears internally as mark of genuine- 
ness — the moral struggle of the subject. In its 
criminal aspects, ^^ it is fit to rank with the case of 

12 « Life,' p. 23. 

13 * Reminiscences,' p. 52. 

14 Overland Monthly, December, 1890. 

15 Compare George Trumbull Ladd, < The Legal Aspects of 
Hypnotism,' 1902, p. 22 : — ' That the person who deliberately sets 



414 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Gabrielle Bompard or V affaire Chambige.^^ It is 
here offered as a matter of post-hypnotic sugges- 
tion, with deferred hallucination: — 

'In 1845 I married President Heber C. Kimball. 
. • . May I St, 1843, I consented to become the 
prophet's wife. In 1842 President Joseph Smith 
sought an interview with me, and said: *' I have a 
message for you. 1 have been commanded of God 
to take another wife and you are the woman.*' My 
astonishment knew no bounds. . . . The 
prophet discerned my sorrow. He saw how un- 
happy I was . , , and said: " Although I can- 
not, under existing circumstances, acknowledge 
you as my wife, the time is near when we will go 
beyond the Rocky Mountains and then you will be 
acknowledged and honored as my wife. ... I 
will give you until to-morrow to decide this matter. 
If you reject this message the gate will be closed 
forever against you." This aroused every drop of 
Scotch in my veins. I felt at this moment that I 
was called to place myself upon the altar a living 
sacrifice — perhaps to brook the world in disgrace and 



about subjugating another by repeated hypnotizing in order to 
make that other his unwilling tool for the commission of crime, is 
himself a criminal of the worst and most dangerous order, and 
deserves, if detected and convicted, the severest punishment which 
the law allows, I do not need to argue.* 
>« Compare Bernheim, chapter viii. 



POLYGAMY AND HYPNOTISM 415 

incur the displeasure and contempt of my youthful 
companions. . . . This was too much, for as 
yet no shadow had crossed my path. ... I 
said: ** Although you are a prophet of God you 
could not induce me to take a step of so great im- 
portance, unless I knew that God approved my 
course. 1 would rather die. I have tried to pray, 
but received no comfort, no light." ... He 
walked across the room, returned . . . and 
said: . . . '* You shall have a manifestation of 
the will of God concerning you; a testimony that 
you can never deny. I will tell you what it shall be. 
It shall be that joy and peace that you never knew." 
Oh, how earnestly 1 prayed for these words to be 
fulfilled. It was near dawn after another sleepless 
night when my room was lighted up by a heavenly 
influence. To me it was, in comparison, like the 
brilliant sun bursting through the darkest cloud. 
The words of the prophet were indeed fulfilled. 
My soul was filled with a calm, sweet peace that '*I 
never knew." Supreme happiness took possession 
of me, and I received a powerful and irresistible 
testimony of the truth of plural marriage.' 



* Revelation on the Eternity of the Marriage Cove- 
nanty including Plurality of Wives, Given through 
Josephy the Seer, in NauvoOy Hancock County ^ Illinois^ 
July I2thf 1843. 



4i6 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant 
Joseph, that inasmuch as you have inquired of my hand, 
to know wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants 
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; as also Moses, David and 
Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle and 
doctrine of their having many wives and concubines : 

Behold ! and lo, I am the Lord thy God, and will 
answer thee as touching this matter : 

Therefore, prepare thy heart to receive and obey the 
instructions which I am about to give unto you ; for all 
those who have this law revealed unto them must obey 
the same ; 

For behold ! I reveal unto you a new and everlasting 
covenant ; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye 
damned; for no one can reject this covenant, and be 
permitted to enter into my glory ; 

For all who will have a blessing at my hands, shall 
abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and 
the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the 
foundation of the world : 

And as pertaining to the new and everlasting cove- 
nant, it was instituted for the fulness of my glory ; and 
he that receiveth a fulness thereof, must and shall abide 
the law, or he shall be damned, saith the Lord God. 

And verily I say unto you, that the conditions of this 
law are these: — All covenants, contracts, bonds, obliga- 
tions, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associa- 
tions, or expectations, that are not made, and entered 
into, and sealed, by the Holy Spirit of promise, of him 
who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity, 
and that too most holy, by revelation and commandment 
through the medium of mine anointed, whom I have ap- 
pointed on the earth to hold this power, (and I have ap- 



POLYGAMY AND HYPNOTISM 417 

pointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in the 
last days, and there is never but one on the earth at a 
time, on whom this power and the keys of this Priesthood 
are conferred) are of no efficacy, virtue, or force, in and 
after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts 
that are not made unto this end, have an end when men 
are dead. 

Behold ! mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord 
God, and not a house of confusion. 

Will I accept of an offering, saith the Lord, that is not 
made in my name ! 

Or, will I receive at your hands that which I have not 
appointed ! 

And will I appoint unto you, saith the Lord, except it 
be by law, even as I and my Father ordained unto you, 
before the world was ! 

I am the Lord thy God, and give unto you this com- 
mandment, that no one shall come to the Father but by 
me, or by my word, which is my law, saith the Lord ; 

And everything that is in the world, whether it be or- 
dained of men, by thrones, or principalities, or powers, 
or things of name, whatsoever they may be, that are not 
by me, or by my word, saith the Lord, shall be thrown 
down, and shall not remain after men are dead, neither 
in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord your God ; 

For whatsoever things remain, are by me ; and what- 
soever things are not by me, shall be shaken and des- 
troyed. 

Therefore, if a man marry him a wife in the world, 
and he marry her not by me, nor by my word ; and he 
covenant with her so long as he is in the world, and she 
with him, their covenant and marriage are not of force 
when they are dead, and when they are out of the world ; 



4i8 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are 
out of the world ; 

Therefore, when they are out of the world, they neither 
marry, nor are given in marriage; but are appointed 
angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, 
to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and 
an exceeding and eternal weight of glory ; 

For these angels did not abide my law, therefore they 
cannot be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, 
without exaltation, in their saved condition to all eternity, 
and from henceforth are not Gods, but are angels of 
God, for ever and ever. 

And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a 
wife, and make a covenant with her for time and for all 
eternity, if that covenant is not by me, or by my word, 
which is my law, and is not sealed by the Holy Spirit of 
promise, through him whom I have anointed and ap- 
pointed unto this power — then it is not valid, neither of 
force when they are out of the world ; because they are 
not joined by me, saith the Lord, neither by my word; 
when they are out of the world, it cannot be received 
there, because the angels and the Gods are appointed 
there, by whom they cannot pass ; they cannot, therefore, 
inherit my glory, for my house is a house of order, saith 
the Lord God. 

And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a 
wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and 
everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the 
Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto 
whom I have appointed this power, and the keys of this 
Priesthood, and it shall be said unto them, ye shall come 
forth in the first resurrection ; and if it be after the first 
resurrection, in the next resurrection ; and shall inherit 



POLYGAMY AND HYPNOTISM 419 

thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, domin- 
ions, all heights and depths — then it shall be written in 
the Lamb's Book of Life, that he shall commit no mur- 
der whereby to shed innocent blood, and if ye abide in 
my covenant, and commit no murder whereby to shed 
innocent blood, it shall be done unto them in all things 
whatsoever my servant had put upon them, in time, and 
through all eternity, and shall be of full force when they 
are out of the world ; and they shall pass by the angels, 
and the Gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and 
glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, 
which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the 
seeds forever and ever. 

Then shall they be Gods, because they have no end ; 
therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, 
because they continue ; then shall they be above all, be- 
cause all things are subject unto them. Then shall they 
be Gods, because they have all power, and the angels 
are subject unto them. 

Verily, verily I say unto you, except ye abide my law, 
ye cannot attain this glory ; 

For straight is the gate, and narrow the way that 
leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, 
and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not 
in the world, neither do ye know me. 

But if ye receive me in the world, then shall ye know 
me, and shall receive your exaltation, that where I am, 
ye shall be also. 

This is eternal lives, to know the only wise and true 
God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent. I am he. 
Receive ye, therefore, my law. 

Broad is the gate, and wide the way that leadeth to 
the deaths, and many there are that go in thereat ; be- 



420 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

cause they receive me not, neither do they abide in my 
law. 

Verily, verily I say unto you if a man marry a wife ac- 
cording to my word, and they are sealed by the Holy 
Spirit of promise, according to mine appointment, and 
he or she shall commit any sin or transgression of the new 
and everlasting covenant whatever, and all manner of 
blasphemies, and if they commit no murder, wherein 
they shed innocent blood — yet they shall come forth in 
the first resurrection, and enter into their exaltation ; but 
they shall be destroyed in the flesh, and shall be delivered 
unto the buffetings of Satan unto the day of redemption, 
saith the Lord God. 

The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which shall 
not be forgiven in the world, nor out of the world, is in 
that ye commit murder, wherein ye shed innocent blood, 
and assent unto my death, after ye have received my new 
and everlasting covenant, saith the Lord God ; and he 
that abideth not this law, can in no wise enter into my 
glory, but shall be damned, saith the Lord. 

I am the Lord thy God, and will give unto thee the 
law of my Holy Priesthood, as was ordained by me, and 
my Father, before the world was. 

Abraham received all things, whatsoever he received, 
by revelation, and commandment, by my word, saith the 
Lord, and hath entered into his exaltation, and sitteth 
upon his throne. 

Abraham received promises concerning his seed, and 
of the fruit of his loins — from whose loins ye are, namely, 
my servant Joseph — which were to continue as long as 
they were in the world ; and as touching Abraham and 
his seed, out of the world they should continue ; both in 
the world and out of the world should they continue as 



POLYGAMY AND HYPNOTISM 421 

innumerable as the stars; or, if ye were to count the sand 
upon the seashore, ye could not number them. 

This promise is yours, also, because ye are of Abra- 
ham, and the promise was made unto Abraham ; and by 
this law are the continuation of the works of my Father, 
wherein he glorifieth Himself. 

Go ye, therefore, and do the works of Abraham ; enter 
ye into my law, and ye shall be saved. 

But if ye enter not into my law ye cannot receive the 
promise of my Father, which he made unto Abraham. 

God commanded Abraham, and Sarah gave Hagar to 
Abraham to wife. And why did she do it ? Because 
this was the law, and from Hagar sprang many people. 
This, therefore, was fulfilling, among other things, the 
promises. 

Was Abraham, therefore, under condemnation? 
Verily, I say unto you. Nay; for I, the Lord, com- 
manded it. 

Abraham was commanded to offer his son Isaac; 
nevertheless, it was written, thou shalt not kill. Abra- 
ham, however, did not refuse, and it was accounted unto 
him for righteousness. 

Abraham received concubines, and they bear him 
children, and it was accounted unto him for righteous- 
ness, because they were given unto him, and he abode in 
my law, as Isaac also, and Jacob did none other things 
than that which they were commanded, and because they 
did none other things than that which they were com- 
manded, they have entered into their exaltation, accord- 
ing to the promises, and sit upon thrones, and are not 
angels, but are Gods. 

David also received many wives and concubines, as 
also Solomon and Moses my servants ; as also many 



^^22 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 



others of my servants, from the beginning of creation 
until this time ; and in nothing did they sin, save in those 
things which they received not of me. 

David's wives and concubines were given unto him, of 
me, by the hand of Nathan, my servant, and others of 
the prophets who had the keys of this power ; and in none 
of these things did he sin against me, save in the case 
of Uriah and his wife; and, therefore he hath fallen from 
his exaltation, and received his portion ; and he shall not 
inherit them out of the world; for I gave them unto 
another, saith the Lord. 

I am the Lord thy God, and I gave unto thee, my 
servant Joseph, an appointment, and restore all things ; 
ask what ye will, and it shall be given unto you accord- 
ing to my word : 

And as ye have asked concerning adultery — verily, 
verily I say unto you, if a man receiveth a wife in the 
new and everlasting covenant, and if she be with another 
man, and I have not appointed unto her by the holy 
anointing, she hath committed adultery, and shall be 
destroyed. 

If she be not in the new and everlasting covenant, and 
she be with another man, she has committed adultery; 

And if her husband be with another woman, and he 
was under a vow, he hath broken his vow, and hath 
committed adultery. 

And if she hath not committed adultery, but is inno- 
cent, and hath not broken her vow, and she knoweth it, 
and I reveal it unto you, my servant Joseph, then shall 
you have power, by the power of my Holy Priesthood, to 
take her, and give her unto him that hath not committed 
adultery, but hath been faithful ; for he shall be a ruler 
over many ; 



POLYGAMY AND HYPNOTISM 423 

For I have conferred upon you the keys and power of 
the Priesthood, wherein I restore all things, and make 
known unto you all things in due time. 

And verily, verily I say unto you, that whatsoever you 
seal on earth, shall be sealed in heaven ; and whatsoever 
you bind on earth, in my name, and by my word, saith 
the Lord, and it shall be eternally bound in the heavens ; 
and whosesoever sins you remit on earth shall be remitted 
eternally in the heavens ; and whosesoever sins you retain 
on earth, shall be retained in heaven. 

And again, verily I say, whomsoever you bless, I will 
bless, and whomsoever you curse, I will curse, saith the 
Lord ; for I, the Lord, am thy God. 

And again, verily I say unto you, my servant Joseph, 
that whatsoever you give on earth, and to whomsoever 
you give any one on earth, by my word, and according 
to my law, it shall be visited with blessings, and not 
cursings, and with my power, saith the Lord, and shall 
be without condemnation on earth, and in heaven ; 

For I am the Lord thy God, and will be with thee 
even unto the end of the world, and through all eternity ; 
for verily, I seal upon you your exaltation, and prepare a 
throne for you in the kingdom of my Father, with 
Abraham your father. 

Behold, I have seen your sacrifices and will forgive all 
your sins; I have seen your sacrifices, in obedience to 
that which I have told you ; go, therefore, and I make a 
way for your escape, as I accepted the offering of Abra- 
ham, of his son Isaac. 

Verily, I say unto you, a commandment I give unto 
mine handmaid, Emma Smith, your wife, whom I have 
given unto you, that she stay herself, and partake not of 
that which I commanded you to offer unto her ; for I did 



424 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

it, saith the Lord, to prove you all, as I did Abraham ; 
and that I might require an offering at your hand, by 
covenant and sacrifice ; 

And let mine handmaid, Emma Smith, receive all 
those that have been given unto my servant Joseph, and 
who are virtuous and pure before me; and those who are 
not pure, and have said they were pure, shall be des- 
troyed, saith the Lord God. 

For I am the Lord thy God, and ye shall obey my 
voice ; and I give unto my servant Joseph, that he shall 
be made a ruler over many things, for he hath been faith- 
ful over a few things, and from henceforth I will strengthen 
him. 

And I command mine handmaid, Emma Smith, to 
abide and cleave unto my servant Joseph, and to none 
else. But if she will not abide this commandment, she 
shall be destroyed, saith the Lord ; for I am the Lord 
thy God, and will destroy her, if she abide not in my 
law ; 

But if she will not abide this commandment, then shall 
my servant Joseph do all things for her, even as he hath 
said ; and I will bless him and multiply him, and give 
unto him an hundredfold in this world, of fathers and 
mothers, brothers and sisters, houses and lands, wives 
and children, and crowns of eternal lives in the eternal 
worlds. 

And again, verily I say, let mine handmaid forgive My 
servant Joseph his trespasses ; and then shall she be for- 
given her trespasses, wherein she has trespassed against 
me ; and I, the Lord thy God, will bless her, and multi- 
ply her, and make her heart to rejoice. 

And again, I say, let not my servant Joseph put his 
property out of his hands, lest an enemy come and de- 



POLYGAMY AND HYPNOTISM 425 

stroy him ; for Satan seeketh to destroy ; for I am the 
Lord thy God, and he is my servant ; and behold I and lo, 
I am with him, as I was with Abraham, thy father, even 
unto his exaltation and glory. 

Now, as touching the law of the Priesthood, there are 
many things pertaining thereunto. 

Verily, if a man be called of my Father, as was Aaron, 
by mine own voice, and by the voice of Him that sent 
me : and I have endowed him with the keys of the power 
of this Priesthood, if he do anything in my name, and 
according to my law, and by my word, he will not com- 
mit sin, and I will justify him. 

Let no one, therefore, set on my servant Joseph ; for I 
will justify him ; for he shall do the sacrifice which I re- 
quire at his hands, for his transgressions, saith the Lord 
your God. 

And again, as pertaining to the law of the Priesthood : 
If any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse an- 
other, and the first give her consent ; and if he espouse 
the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no 
other man, then is he justified ; he cannot commit adultery 
for they are given unto him; for he cannot commit 
adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no 
one else ; 

And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, 
he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and 
they are given unto him, therefore is he justified. 

But if one or either of the ten virgins, after she is 
espoused, shall be with another man ; she has committed 
adultery, and shall be destroyed ; for they are given unto 
him to multiply and replenish the earth, according to my 
commandment, and to fulfil the promise which was given 
by my Father before the foundation of the world ; and 



426 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

for their exaltation in the eternal worlds, that they may 
bear the souls of men ; for herein is the work of my Fa- 
ther continued, that He may be glorified. 

And again, verily, verily I say unto you, if any man 
have a wife, who holds the keys of this power, and he 
teaches unto her the law of my Priesthood, as pertaining 
to these things, then shall she believe, and administer 
unto him, or she shall be destroyed, saith the Lord your 
God, for I will destroy her ; for I will magnify my name 
upon all those who receive and abide in my law. 

Therefore, it shall be lawful in me, if she receive not 
this law, for him to receive all things, whatsoever I, the 
Lord his God, will give unto him, because she did not 
administer unto him according to my word; and she 
then becomes the transgressor ; and he is exempt from 
the law of Sarah, who administered unto Abraham ac- 
cording to the law, when I commanded Abraham to take 
Hagar to wife. 

And now, as pertaining to this law, verily, verily I say 
unto you, I will reveal more unto you, hereafter ; there- 
fore, let this suffice for the present. Behold, I am Alpha 
and Omega. Amen.* 



V 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The following 200 odd works have been con- 
sulted for this study. They comprise selections 
from a card catalogue of about 1200 titles, which I 
have compiled from recent church catalogues at 
home and abroad, and also from such bibliographies 
as are given by Bancroft, Berrian, Bertrand, Burton, 
Callahan, Stenhouse and Woodward. 

The notable public collections of Mormoniana in 
America are four in number: — The Church Ar- 
chives at Salt Lake City; Government publications at 
Washington; the Berrian Collection, New York 
Public Library, rich in first editions and rare publica- 
tions of the early Church; the Collection of the 
State Historical Society of Wisconsin at Madison; 
which has been of late augmented by the loan of 
the private collection of Mr. A. T. Schroeder, late of 

Salt Lake City, embracing 448 books, 43 bound 

429 



430 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

volumes of newspaper files, 2}2 bound volumes of 
periodicals, and 550 pamphlets. 



ACTS of the Elders, commonly called the Book of Abraham 
Boston, 1848. 

ADAMS (G. J.)— A Few Plain Facts, pp. 16. Bedford, 1841. 

ADAMS (G. Q.) — Lecture on Baptism for the Dead. pp. 12. 
New York, 1844. 

ADAMS COUNTY, Illinois. History of its Cities, Towns, etc. 
pp. 971. Chicago, 1879. 

ADDRESS, AN, to the Sons and Daughters of Zion. pp. 48. 
Kirtland, O., 185 1. 

ADVOCATE. The Saints' Advocate. Piano, 111., 1879-1886. 

AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. Circular, 
Boston, May, 1878. 

ANDREE (Karl.)— -Geographische Wanderungen. Die Mor- 
monen und ihr Land. Dresden, 1859. 

ANDERSON, (Edward H.)~History of the Church. Salt Lake 
City, 1 90 1. 

ARCHiEOLOGICAL COMMITTEE REPORT. Evidences in 
support of the Book of Mormon. Lamoni, la., 1901. 

ARTHUR (William) — The Antiquarian, and General Review. 
Lansingburgh, N. Y., 1847. 

AUSTIN (Emily M.)— Mormonism; or Life Among the Mor- 
mons. Madison, Wis., 1882. 

BACHELER (O.)— Mormonism Exposed, pp. 48. New York, 
1838. 

y BANCROFT (Hubert Howe.)— History of Utah. A. d. 1540- 
^ 1887. pp. 808 {Bibliography^ pp. xxi-xlviii). San Fran- 

cisco, 1890. 

Literary Industries. New York, 1891. 

BARCLAY. Mormonism Exposed, 1884. 

BEADLE (J. H.)— Life in Utah, or, Mysteries and Crimes of 

Mormonism, etc. Philadelphia, 1870. 
^Western Wilds. Detroit, Mich., 1877. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 431 

BEERS (R. W.)— The Mormon Puzzle, pp. 195. New York, 
1887. 

BELISLE (Orvilla S.) — The Prophets, or Mormonism Un- 
veiled, pp. 412. Philadelphia, 1855. 

BENNETT (Fred E.)— Fred Bennett, the Mormon Detective. 
Chicago, 1887. 

BENNETT (John C.)— History of the Saints. Portraits of Ben- 
nett and Joseph Smith in Uniform, pp. 344. Boston, 1842. 

BERRY (John.)— Plain Facts Against the Latter-day Saints, 
pp. II. Altringham, 1841. 

BISHOP (F. G.)— An Address, pp. 25. Kirtland, O., 185 1. 

BERTRAND (L. A.)— Memoires d'un Mormon {with Biblio- 
graphy), pp. 323. Paris, n. d. 
BLAIR (W. W.)— Joseph the Seer. pp. IV, 5-200. 1887. 

BOWES (John.) — Mormonism Exposed in its Swindling, Poly- 
gamy and Licentious Principles, etc. pp. 71. London, 1 851. 

BRIGGS (J. W.)— Basis of Polygamy, pp. 8. n. p., n. d. 

Brighamite Doctrines, p. 8. Piano, 111., n. d. 

Word of Consolation to Saints Scattered Abroad, pp. 16. 

Westbromwich, 1853. 

BROTHERTON (E.)— Mormonism and the Prophet Joseph 
Smith, pp. 36. Manchester, n. d. 

BROWN (Benjamin.)— Testimonies for the Truth, pp. 32. 
Liverpool, 1853. 

BROWN (Henry.) — History of Illinois from its First Discovery. 
{Mormofts in Illinois, 386-403. Life and death of Joseph 
Smithy 487-492.) New York, 1844. 

BROWN (H. K.) — Artemus Ward's Lecture on the Mormons, pp. 
64. London, 1882. 

BURGESS (J. M.)— Book of Mormon Contradictory to Common 
Sense, etc. pp. 30. Liverpool, 1850. 

BURNETT (Peter H.)— Recollections and Opinions of an Old 
Pioneer. New York, 1880. 

BURNS (D.) — Mormonism Explained and Exposed, pp. 56. 
London, 1854. 

BUSCH (M.)— Die Mormonen, Ihr Prophet, Ihr Statt und Ihr 
Glaube. Leipsic, 1855. 



432 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

BURTON (Richard F.)--City of the Saints, etc. x, 707 pp. 
(Bibliography ^ pp. 250, 309.) London, 1862. 

CAKE (L. B.) — Old Manuscript Found — Peep-stone Joe Exposed, 
New York, 1899. 

CALL (Lamoni.) — 2,000 Changes in the Book of Mormon, pp. 
128. Bountiful, Utah, 1899. 

CALLAHAN (D. A.)— A Catalogue of Books, chiefly on Mor- 
monism. Salt Lake City, [1899?] 

CAMPBELL (Alexander.) — Delusions, An Analysis of the 

Book of Mormon, etc. pp. 16. Boston, 1832. 
Memoirs. Volume II, 1868. 

CANNON (George Q.)~- -Life of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, 
pp. 512. Salt Lake City, 1888. 

My First Mission. Salt Lake City, 1882. 

Writings from the 'Western Standard.' pp. XIV, 512 

Liverpool, 1864. 

CASWALL (Henry.) — Mormonism and Its Author, pp. 16. 
London, 1852. 

CATECHISM for children. Salt Lake City, 1882. 

CHAPMAN (F. W.)— The Pratt Family, {Contains accounts of 
Parley P, and Orson Pratt.) Hartford, 1864. 

CHURCH or Kingdom of God, The. Lamoni, la., 1901, 

CLARK (John A.) — Gleanings by the Way. Philadelphia, 1842. 

CLARKE (R.) — Mormonism Unmasked, pp, 32, 3 ed. Lon- 
don, [184-]. 

CLEAVELAND (N.)— Address at Topsfield, Mass. 200th Anni- 
versary. (^Appendix contains genealogy of Joseph Smithy 
senior.) New York, 1851. 

CODMAN (John.) — Mormon Country, pp. 225. New York, 

1874. 
Round Trip by way of Panama. {Mormons y pp. 56-58, 169- 

201.) New York, 1879. 

CORNABY (Hannah.) — Autobiography and Poems, pp. 158. 
Salt Lake pity, 188 1. 

CORRESPONDENCE OF THE PALESTINE TOURISTS. 

(Letters by George A. Smith, Lorenzo Snow, Paul A. Schettler 
and Eliza R. Snow of Utah.) pp. 386. Salt Lake City, 1875. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 433 

CORRILL (John.) — Brief History of Church of Christ of Latter- 
day Saints, Including their Doctrine and Discipline, pp. 50. 
St. Louis, 1839. 

DANIELS (W. M.)— A Correct Account of the Murder of Gen- 
erals Joseph and Hyrum Smith, at Carthage, by an eye-wit- 
ness, pp. 23. Nauvoo, 1845. 

DAVIDSON (A.) AND STUVE (B.)— History of Illinois, 1673 
to 1873. Springfield, 1874. 

DAVIDSON ( Matilda. )--Folly and Falsehood of Book of Mor- 
mon, pp. 4. Hexham, n. d. 

DAVIES (Richard.) — Mormonism Unmasked, pp. 24. Burn- 
ley. [1834]. 
DAVIESS County, Missouri, History of. Kansas City, 1882. 

DERRY (Elder C.)— Manual of the Priesthood. Lamoni, la., 
1890. 

DESERET NEWS. Salt Lake City, 1852-1887. 

DESERET WEEKLY. Salt Lake City, 1888-1898. 

DICKINSON (Mrs. Ellen E.)— New Light on Mormonism. 
Introduction by Thurlow Weed. New York, 1885. 

DISCIPLEISM, or the claims of Alexander Campbell to a Re- 
stored Primitive Christianity Examined. Lamoni, la., 1901. 

DUNN (B. S.) — How to solve the Mormon Problem, pp. 30. 
1877. 

DOUGAL (Lily.)— The Mormon Prophet, pp. 427. New 
York, 1899. 

ELDER'S JOURNAL. Kirtland, Ohio, and Far West, Mo. 
1837-9. 

EARLY SCENES IN CHURCH HISTORY. Salt Lake City, 
1882. 

ENSIGN to the Nations, pp. 14. n. p., 185 1. 

feTOURNEAU (M.)— Les Mormons. Portrait of Joseph Smith. 
Paris, 1856. 

EVENING AND MORNING STAR. Independence, Mo., 1832. 
Kirtland, O., 1834. 

EVENTFUL NARRATIVES. Salt Lake City, n. d. 

FERNHAGEL (D. T.)— Die Wahrheit uber das Mormonenthum. 
pp. IV, 112. Zurich, 1889. 



434 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

FERRIS (Mrs. B. G.)— The Mormons at Home. New York, 
1856. 

FERRIS (B. G.)— Utah and the Mormons. New York, 1854. 

FLOWER (W. B.)— The Mormons. The Dream and the Reality. 
London, 1857. 

FORD (Gov. Thomas.)— History of Illinois. Chicago, 1854. 

FOTSCH (W.) — Zur kenntnis der Mormonen (In * Denkwur- 
digkeiten aus der Neuen Welt,' Vol. 2, pp. 126-251). Bremen, 
[189 1?] 

FRAGMENTS OF EXPERIENCE. A collection of sketches 
from the experience of Elders. Salt Lake City, 1901. 

FRERE (John.)— A Short History of the Mormonites. pp. 24. 
London, 1850. 

FRIENDLY WARNINGS on Mormonism. By a Country 
Clergyman. London, 1850. 

GEMS for the Young Folks. Salt Lake City, 1883. 

GEMS OF TRUTH. By Orson and Parley Pratt and Loren^ 
Snow. pp. 616. Salt Lake City, n. d. 

GERHARD (Frederick.) — Illinois: As It Is, etc. {Mormons , 
pp. 89-123.) Chicago, 1857. 

GILES. Pure Testimony to Latter-day Saints, pp. 45. 1875. 

GRANT (J. M.)— Truth for the Mormons, pp. 64. Three Letters 
to the New York Herald, March 9th, 1852. 

GREELEY (Horace.) — Overland Journey from New York to 
San Francisco in 1859. New York, i860. 

GREEN (N. W.)— Fifteen Years Among the Mormons; Being 
the Narrative of Mrs. Mary Ettie V. Smith, pp. 408. New 
York, i860. 

Mormonism : Its Rise, Progress, and Present Condition ; the 

narrative of Mrs. Mary E. V. Smith. Hartford, 1870. 

GREENE (John P. ) — Expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri, 
pp. 43. Cincinnati, 1839. 

GREGG (Thomas.)-— The Prophet of Palmyra. New York, 1890. 

GUERS (Emilius.) — Irvingism and Mormonism tested by Scrip- 
ture. London, 1854. 

GUNNISON (J. W.)— The Mormons. Philadelphia, 1857. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 435 

HAINING (Samuel.) — Mormonism Weighed in the Balances, 
pp. 66. Douglass, Isle of Man, 1840. 

HANDBOOK OF MORMONISM. pp. 50. Salt Lake City. 
1S82. 

HANDBOOK OF REFERENCE to the history, chronology, re- 
ligion and country of the Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City. 
1884. 

HARRIS (W.) — Mormonism Portrayed ; its Errors aud Absurd- 
ities Exposed, pp. 64. Warsaw, 111., 1 84 1. 

HAWTHORNTHWAITE (S.)— Adventures among the Mor- 
mons. pp. 132. Manchester, 1857. 

HERALD. The True Latter-day Saints Herald. Cincinnati, 
and Lamoni, Iowa, 1 860-1 901. 

HICKMAN (William A.) — Brigham's Destroying Angel. New 
York, 1872. 

HILL (G. W.)— A String of Pearls. Salt Lake City, 1882. 

HOLST (H. VON.)— Constitutional History of the United States. 
Volume vi. Chicago, 1889. 

HOWE (E.D.)— Mormonism Unveiled. {Rare.) Painesville, O., 
1834. 

HOWE (Henry.)— Historical Collections of Ohio. {Mormons, 
pp. 282-7.) Cincinnati, 1850. 

HUNT (James H.) — Mormonism. Origin, rise and progress, 
with appendix on the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, by 
G. W. Westbrook. St. Louis, 1844. 

HYDE (John.)— Mormonism : its Leaders and Designs, pp. xii, 
13-335- New York, 1857. 

HYDE (Orson.)— A Voice from Jerusalem, pp. 36. Boston, 
1842. 

IDOLATRY, pp.4. Piano, la., [184-]. 

IMPOSTURE Unmasked, pp. 32. Isle of Man, 1841. 

JAQUES (John.)— Catechism for Children, pp. 81. Salt Lake 
City, 1870. 

JEFFERIES (W.)— The Gospel Pioneer, pp. 23. n. p., n. d. 

JOHNSON (Joseph.)— Great Mormon Fraud, pp. 72. Manches- 
ter, 1885. 



436 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

KANE (Thomas L.) — The Mormons, pp. 92. Philadelphia, 1850. 

KENNEDY (J. H.)— Early Days of Mormonism. Palmyra, 
Kirtland and Nauvoo. New York, 1888. 

Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, pp. 15. n. p., 1890^ 

KIDDER ( Daniel P.) — Mormonism and The Mormons, pp. 342. 
New York, 1842. 

KIMBALL (Heber C.)— Journal. Salt Lake City, 1882. 

KNIGHT (Lydia.)— History of. Salt Lake City, 1883. 

KNIGHT (Newel)— Journal. Salt Lake City, 1883. 

LABORS IN THE VINEYARD. Salt Lake City, 1884. 

LATTER-DAY SAINTS' Messenger and Advocate. Edited by 
Oliver Cowdery. Vols, i, 2, 3. Kirtland, 1834-37. 

LATTER-DAY SAINTS' MILLENNIAL STAR. Edited by 
Parley P. Pratt and George Q. Cannon. Manchester, 1841, 
Liverpool, 1893. 

LEE (John D.)— Mormonism Unveiled. St. Louis, Mo., 1892. 

LITTLEFIELD (L. O.)— The Martyrs: Joseph and Hyrum 

Smith, etc. Salt Lake City, 1882. 
Reminiscences of Latter-day Saints. Logan, Utah, 1888. 

MACK (Solomon.) — Narrative of the life of. {MaUrnal grand- 
father of Joseph Smith, junior, ) Windsor, [ 1 8 10] . 

MACKAY (Charles.) — The Mormons, or Latter-day Saints : a 
Contemporary History. ( This book was probably written by 
Henry May hew,) pp. 308. London, 185 1. 

The Mormons, pp. viii, 320. London, 1852. 

M'CHESNEY (James.)— An Antidote to Mormonism. Revised 
by G. J. Bennet. pp. 60. Supplement, pp. 4. New York, 
1838-9. 

MESSENGER AND ADVOCATE, of the Church of Christ. 
(Rigdonite. See * Latter-day Saints Messenger and Advocate^ 
of which this is a continuation.) Pittsburg, July I, 1845 — 
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MONTGOMERY (M. W.)— The Mormon Delusion. Boston and 

Chicago, 1890. 
MORMON, THE. Volumes I and II. New York, 1855-6. 
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MYSTERIES of the Endowment House, pp. 36, n. p., n. d. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 437 

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NAUVOO LEGION. Revised Laws. Nauvoo, 1844. 

NEW WEST EDUCATION Commission, The. Annual Reports. 
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NEW YORK MESSENGER. (Continuation of ' The Prophet.*) 
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NICHOLSON (John.) — Comprehensive Salvation, pp. 16. 

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ORIGIN OF BOOK OF MORMON, pp. 7. Piano, 1876. 

PADDOCK (Mrs. A. G.)— The Fate of Madame La Tour. New 
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PAGE (John E.)— The Spaulding Story, pp. 16. Piano, 111., 
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PARRY (E. F.)— Sketches of Missionary Life. Salt Lake City, 
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PARSONS (Tyler.) — Mormon Fanaticism Exposed, pp. 104. 
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PENROSE (Charles W.)—* Mormon' Doctrine, Plain and 

Simple. Salt Lake City, 1882. 
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Account of several remarkable Visions and late discovery of 

Ancient American Records, pp. 36. New York, 1841. 

Divine Authority, or the Question, Was Joseph Smith sent of 

God? pp. 16. Liverpool, [dated], 1848. 

Great First Cause, pp. i6. Liverpool, 185 1. 



438 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Key to the Universe, or a New Theory of its Mechanism, etc. 

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Universal Apostasy, pp. 16. Liverpool, 1857. 

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Late Persecution of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, etc. 

pp. 215. New York, 1840. 

A Voice of Warning and Instruction to all People, pp. 216. 

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PROCLAMATION of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of 
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ple of all Nations, pp. 16. New York, 1845. 

PURE GOSPEL of Christ, The. Lamoni, la., 190 1. 

QUINCY (JosiAH.) Figures of the Past. {Joseph Smith, Jun- 
ior, p. 376 ff.) 

RAE (W. F.)— Westward by Rail. pp. 391. London, 187 1. 

REID (Col. J. M.)— Sketches of the Old Settlers. The Mormon 
Bandits and Danite Band. Keokuk, 1876. 

RELIC LIBRARY (The.)— Containing the Writings of Joseph 
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REMY (J.) and BRENCHLEY (J. L.)— A Journey to Great Salt 
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RETURN, THE [Monthly.] Independence, Mo., 1892. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 439 

REYNOLDS (George.)— The Myth of the Manuscript Found, 

Salt Lake City, 1884. 
The Story of the Book of Mormon. Salt Lake City, 1888. 

REYNOLDS (John.) — My own times. (Mormons, pp. 562- 
600.) pp. 600. Belleville, 111., 1855. 

RICE (Harvey.) — Pioneers of the Western Reserve. Boston, 
1883. 

RICHARDS (F. D.)— A Compendium of the Faith and Doc- 
trines of the Latter-day Saints. Liverpool, 1857. 

RIGDON (Sidney.)— The Latter-day Saints' Messenger and Ad- 
vocate. (JVos. II and 12 Entitled the * Messenger and Advo- 
cate of the Church of Christ'^ Pittsburg, 1844-5. 

ROBERTS (B. H.)— The Second Coming of the Messiah. Salt 
Lake City, 1901. 

ROLLO (J. B.) — Mormonism Exposed, pp. 12. London, n. d. 

RUPP (I. Daniel.)— i^^ Pasa Ekklesia, An Original History 
of the Religious Denominations of the United States. 
Their Rise, Progress, Statistics and Doctrines. Written by 
Eminent Professors of the Several Denominations. ( The art- 
icle on Mormonism was written by jfoseph Smith, Junior.) 
Philadelphia, 1844. 

SABIN. Bibliotheca Americana. Volumes ix. and xii. 

SAINTS' HERALD, THE.— Official weekly publication of the 

Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; 

Joseph Smith, Editor. Lamoni, la., 1 860- 1902. 

SALT LAKE DAILY TRIBUNE, 1873-1889. 

SALT LAKE WEEKLY TRIBUNE, 1886-1892. 

SCHLAGINTWEIT (R. von.)— Die Mormonen. pp. 318. 
Cologne, 1878. 

SCHROEDER (A. T.)— Mormonism Considered, pp. 35. Salt 

Lake City, 1897. 
The Origin of the Book of Mormon, examined in its Relation 

to Spaulding's Manuscript Found, pp. 56. Salt Lake City, 

1901. 

SEXTON (George.) — Portraiture of Mormonism, etc. pp.113. 

London, 1849. 
SHEEN (ISAAC.)— Great Contrast, pp. 8. Piano, 111., 1867. 



440 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

SHELDON (William.) — Mormonism Examined, pp. 184. 
Brodhead, Wis., n. d. 

SIMPSON (W. Sparrow.) — Mormonism: Its History, Doc- 
trines, and Practices. . pp. 62. London, 1853. 

SMITH (Alexander H.) — Polygamy: Was it an original 
Tenet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ? 
pp. 8. Piano, n. d. 

SMITH (David H.)— The Bible versus Polygamy, pp. 14. 
Piano, [18—]. 

SMITH (George A.)— Plea. n. p., 1852. 

The Rise, Progress, and Travels of the Church, etc. Salt Lake 

City, 1869. 

SMITH (Herman C.) — True Succession in Church Presidency. 
Lamoni, la., 1901. 

The Truth Defended. A Reply to Elder D. H. Bay's Doc- 
trines and Dogmas of Mormonism. Lamoni, la., 1 901. 

SMITH (Joseph, Junior.)— Articles of Faith, pp. 2, n. p. 
[18-]. 

The Book of Abraham. Translated by Joseph Smith from 

Papyrus found in the Catacombs of Egypt, pp. 56. Liver- 
pool, 1 85 1. 

Book of Commandments, for the Government of the Church 

of Christ. Organized according to law on the 6th of April, 1830. 
pp. 160. (^Exceedingly rare, ^ Zion, Jackson County, Missouri. 
Published by W. W. Phelps & Co., 1833. 

Salt Lake Tribune^ reprint, pp. 93, 1 884. 

The Book of Mormon : An Account written by the Hand of 

Mormon, upon plates taken from the plates of Nephi, by 
Joseph Smith, Junior, author and proprietor, ist ed. 12 mo, 
with Preface, pp. 590. Palmyra, E. B. Grandin, for the 
author, 1830. 

The Book of Mormon : An Account written by the Hand of 

Mormon, upon plates taken from the plates of Nephi. Trans- 
lated by Joseph Smith, Junior, pp. 621. 2d ed. {Equally 
rare as the first edition of the Book of Mormon.) Kirtland, 
Ohio. Printed by O. Cowdery & Co. for P. P. Pratt and J. 
Goodson, 1837. 

Translated by Joseph Smith, Junior. 3d ed., revised. 

Printed by Robinson & Smith. Nauvoo, 1840. 

1st. Europ. Ed. (from the 2d American Ed.), pp. 643. 

Liverpool, 1841. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 441 

Translated by Joseph Smith. 4th American and 2d 

stereotype ed. Carefully revised by the Translator, pp. (4), 
7-571. Nauvoo, 111. Printed by Joseph Smith, 1842. 



Translated by Joseph Smith. 2d Europ. ed. Liverpool, 

1849. 

-Translated by Joseph Smith, Junior. 3d Europ. ed. 



Liverpool, 1852. 

4th Europ. ed. pp. xix. 438. i map. Liverpool, 1854. 

-Translated by Joseph Smith, Junior. 5th Europ. ed. 



Liverpool, 1854. 

-Translated by Joseph Smith, Junior. Reprinted from 



3d. Amer. ed., carefully revised by the Translator, pp. xix. 
and 380. New York [1859?] 

-An account written by the hand of Mormon, upon plates 



taken from the plates of Nephi. 6th Europ. ed. pp. xii. 
and 563. Liverpool. Published by Brigham Young, June, 
1866. 

-In * Deseret Alphabet.' pp., xi. and 443. New York, 



1869. 
An account written by the hand of Mormon, upon Plates 

taken from the Plates of Nephi. Translated by Joseph Smith, 

Junior, pp. xii. and 563. Salt Lake City, 187 1. 
Translated by Joseph Smith, Junior. Reprinted from the 

3d American ed. Piano, 111., 1874. 

-25th ed. pp. 545 Lamoni, la., 1901. 



-Book of Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter- 
day Saints, compiled by Joseph Smith, Junior. Oliver Cow- 
dery, Sidney Rigdon, F. G. Williams, proprietors, pp. 282. 
Kirtland, O., 1835. 

3d ed. pp. 444 Nauvoo, 1845. 

1st Europ. ed. Liverpool, n. d. 

2d Europ. ed. pp. 336. Liverpool, 1849. 

3d Europ. ed. pp. 336. Liverpool, 1852. 

-Selected from the Revelations of God. By Joseph Smith, 



President. 4th Europ. ed. pp. xxiii. and 336. Liverpool, 
1854. 

Cincinnati, 1864. 

-Given to Joseph Smith, Junior. Divided into verses by 



Orson Pratt, etc. Salt Lake City, 1883. 

Lamoni, la., 1901. 

Salt Lake City, 1901. 



442 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

Correspondence with Col. John Wentworth, of 111., Gen. James 

Arlington Bennett, of Arlington House, Loud Island, and John 
C. Calhoun, etc. pp. i6. New York, 1844. 

History of, (supplement to Millennial Star, volume xiv. ) Liv- 
erpool, 1852. 

The Pearl of Great Price : Being a Choice Selection from the 

Revelations, Translations, and Narratives of Joseph Smith, 
First Prophet, and Revelator to the Church of Jesus Christ of 
Latter-day Saints. Facsimile from Book of Mormon, pp. 
56. Liverpool, 1851. 



Liverpool, 1852. 

Salt Lake City, 189 1. 

The Holy Scriptures, translated and corrected by the Spirit 

of Revelation. Piano, 111., 1867. 

Selection from the Revelations, Translations and Narratives 

of. Salt Lake City, n. d. 

Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the 

United States, pp. 8. Pittsburg, 1844. 

Visions of Joseph Smith the Seer; discoveries of ancient 

American Records and Relics. Piano, 1900. 

Voice of Truth, containing Gen. Joseph Smith's correspond- 
ence with Gen. A. Bennett, Appeal to Green Mountain Boys, 
with J. C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, etc., etc. pp. 64. Nau- 
voo. 111., 1844. 

The Writings of Joseph Smith, the Seer. Martyred June 27, 

1844. 48 pp. York, Neb., 1889. 

And others. Report of Trial of, for high treason and other 

crimes against the State of Missouri. Senate Document, Feb. 
15, 1841. 

SMITH (Joseph 3D.) — Reply to Orson Pratt, by Joseph Smith, 
President of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- 
day Saints, pp. 16. Piano, [18 — ]. 

Who then can be Saved ? pp. 4. Piano, n. d. 

SMITH (Joseph 3D) and (Herman C.) — History of the Church 
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Lamoni, la., 1901. 

SMITH (Joseph) and TAYLOR (J.)— Items of Church History, 
Covenant, etc. pp. 32. Salt Lake, 1886. 

SMITH (Lucy.) — Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith and his 
Progenitors for many Generations. (Rare.) pp. 297. Liver- 
pool, 1853. 

Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and his 

Progenitors. Piano, 111., 1880. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 443 

SMITH (T. W.)--The < One Baptism'; Its Mode, Subjects, Pre- 
requisites, and Design. Who shall Administer ? pp. i8. 
Piano, n. d. 

The * One Body * ; or, The Church of Christ under the Apo- 

stleship, and under the Apostasy, pp. i6. Piano, n. d. 

Spiritualism viewed from a Scriptural Standpoint, pp. 20. 

Piano, n. d. 

SMUCKER (Samuel M.)— History of all Religions. {Mormons, 
pp. 98-105.) pp. 350. New York, 1884. 

SMUCKER (Samuel M.) [Editor.]— The Religious, Social and 
Political History of the Mormons. 111. pp. 46. New York, 
i860. 

SMYTHE (W. E.)— Conquest of Arid America. 1900. 

SNOW (Eliza R.) — Poems, Religious, Historical and Political. 
Vol. I. Liverpool, 1856. 

SNOW (Lorenzo.) — Biography and Family Record of. By Eliza 
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The Only Way to be saved, n. p., n. d. 

The Voice of Joseph, pp.19. Liverpool, 1852. 

SNOW-SMITH (Eliza R.)— Life and Labors of. Salt Lake 
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SPAULDING (Solomon.)— 'The Manuscript Found'; or ' Man- 
uscript Story * of the late Rev. Solomon Spaulding, from a 
verbatim copy of the original, etc. Lamoni, la., 1885. 

SPENCER (Orson.)— Letters, including the Letter on Patriarchal 
Order. Liverpool, 1852. 

Patriarchal Order, or Plurality of Wives, pp. 16, Liverpool, 

1853. 
The Prussian Mission, pp. 16. Liverpool, 1853. 

STENHOUSE (T. B. H.)— Le Reflecteur, organe de L'feglisede 
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1853. 

The Rocky Mountain Saints. (Bibliography, p. 741.) pp. 

761. London, [1870]. 

STENHOUSE (Mrs. T. B. H.)— * Tell it All : ' The Story of a 

Life's Experience in Mormonism. Preface by Mrs. Harriet 

Beecher Stowe. pp. 623. Hartford, 1874. 
STEVENSON (Edward).— Reminiscences of Joseph the 

Prophet, and the Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon, pp. 

48. Salt Lake City, 1893. 



m 



444 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

STRANG (J. J.)— Revelations of. pp. 22. n. p. 1885. 
The Star in the East. Boston, 1846. 

STRONG (JosiAH.)— Our Country. (Mormons, pp. 59-68.) 
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TALMAGE (James E.)— Articles of Faith, pp. 498. Salt Lake 
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Divinity of the * Book of Mormon.' Salt Lake City, 1901. 

TAYLDER (T. W. P.)--The Mormon's own Book ; or Mormonism 
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iii, and 200. London, 1857. 

TAYLOR (B.)— Testimonies for the Truth, pp. 32. 1853. 

TAYLOR (John.)— Life of. Salt Lake City, 1901. 

TAYLOR (John.)— Three Nights Public Discussion, pp. 49. 
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TAYLOR (Thomas)— Complete Failure of an Ordained Priest, 
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THOMPSON (Charles.)— Evidences in Proof of the * Book of 
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TIMES AND SEASONS, The. Containing a Compendium of In- 
telligence pertaining to the Upbuilding of the Kingdom of 
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of useful Information, in regard to the Doctrines, History, 
Principles, Persecutions, Deliverances, and Onward Progress 
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Vols. 
i-vi. ( The first three volumes are continuously paged. Vol, /F, 
only^ has a title and table of contents. Vol. Ill, Nos 8-24 
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Nov. I, 1845. 

TRIPLETT (Col. Frank.)— Conquering the Wilderness, pp. 
742. New York and St. Louis, 1886. 

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ies). Salt Lake City, 1886. 

Life of Joseph Smith, the Prophet. Portrait. pp. 545. 

New York, 1878. 



PR 101 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 445 

Life of Brigham Young, or Utah and her Founders. New 

York, 1876. 

TULLIDGE'S Quarterly Magazine. Salt Lake City, 1881-85. 

TURNER (J. B.) — Mormonism in all Ages; with a biography of 
Joseph Smith, pp. 304. New York, 1842. 

UTAH and its People, Facts, etc., by a Gentile, pp. 47. Salt 
Lake City, 1882. 

UTAH REVIEW. Salt Lake City, 1881-2. 

UTAH STATEHOOD : Reasons why it should not be Granted, 
pp. 72. Salt Lake City, 1887. 

VAN DUSEN. Startling Disclosures of the Wonderful Cere- 
monies of the Mormon Spiritual-Wife System, pp. 16. New 
York, 1850. 

VAN DUSEN (I. McGee and Maria.]— Positively True. A 
Dialogue between Adam and Eve, 1 he Lord and the Devil, 
called the Endowment, pp. 24. Albany, 1847. 

The * Endowment.' pp. 32. New York, 1852. 

VICTOR (M. V. F.)--Mormon Wives, pp. xii, 25-326. New 
York, 1856. 

VOICE OF JOSEPH. A brief account of Latter-day Saints in 
Utah, with * An Exile's * Memorial to Congress, pp. 19. 
Liverpool, 1852. 

WAITE (Mrs. C. V.)— The Mormon Prophet and his Harem, 
pp. 311. Chicago, 1868. 

WAITE (Henry Randall.) — Illiteracy and Mormonism. pp. 
43. Boston, n. d. 

WALKER (S. F.)— Ruins Revisited. Lamoni, la. 1901. 

WANDELL (C. W.)— History of the Persecutions ... in 
America, pp. 64. [1849.] 

WARD (Austin N.)— Male life among the Mormons, pp. 310. 
Philadelphia, [1863]. 

WARD (Maria.) — Female Life among the Mormons, pp. 449. 
New York, 1855. 

WARD (J. H.) — Gospel Philosophy, showing the Absurdities of 

Infidelity, pp. 216. Salt Lake City. 1884. 
WAS JOSEPH SMITH A POLYGAMIST ? Lamoni, la., 1901. 
WEBSTER (Thomas.)— Some Extracts from Book of Doctrines 

and Covenants of the Latter-day Saints, etc. pp. 28. Preston, 

[1840?] 



446 THE FOUNDER OF MORMONISM 

WELLS (S. R.)— Illustrated Annual of Phrenology and Physi- 
ology. pp. 46. New York, 1866. 

WESTERN STANDARD, THE. Published by G. Q. Cannon. 
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WHICH IS THE CHURCH ? Lamoni, la., 1901. 

WHITMER (David.)— An Address to All Believers in Christ. 
PP- 75* Richmond, Mo., 1887. 

WHITNEY (Helen M.)— Plural Marriage as Taught by Prophet 
Joseph, pp. 52. Salt Lake City, 1882. 

WHITNEY (J.)— Mormonism Unravelled, Pseudo-Revelations, 
etc. pp. 47. London, 1851. 

WHITNEY (O. F.)— History of Utah in 3 Vols. pp. 725. Salt 
Lake City, 1892-8. 

Life of Heber C. Kimball, an Apostle, the Founder of the 

British Mission, pp. 520. Salt Lake City, 1888. 

WINCHESTER (B.)— Origin of the Spaulding Story, concerning 
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WOODRUFF (WiLFORD.)— Leaves from my Journal, pp. 96. 
Salt Lake City, 1882. 

WOODWARD (Charles L.) — Bibliothica Scallawagiana. pp. 50. 

New York, 1880. 
The First half century of Mormonism. Papers, engravings, 

photographs, and autograph letters. (Berrian Collection,) 

2 volumes. New York, 1880. 
Supplementary Catalogue. New York, n. d. 

WYLE (W.)— Mormon Portraits, or the Truth about the Mor- 
mon Leaders from 1830 to 1886. pp. 320. Salt Lake City, 
1886. 

YOUNG (Ann Eliza.)— Wife No. 19. pp. 605. Hartford, 1876. 

YOUNG (Brigham.) — Journal of Discourses by Brigham Young, 
his two counsellors, the Twelve Apostles, and others. Re- 
ported by G. D. Watt, and others. Liverpool, 1854-1886. 

Life of. pp. 173. Salt Lake City, 1893. 

Resurrection, pp. 11. Salt Lake City, 1875. 

And his Twenty-Nine Wives. Biographical Sketches, pp. 

16. Philadelphia, 1873. 



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